Assassins of Fu
by Marry Chat
Summary: Marinette and Adrien are assassins, but they have no idea who the other person is. When Ladybug is assigned to kill Adrien Agreste, everything goes haywire. Their trust in each other sways when Volpina gets thrown into the picture, and Ladybug struggles to stay focused. And what, exactly, is Master Fu's history? What did he do, and why are they being punished for it?
1. Chapter 1- Failed assignment

**A/N: Hey! Sorry, this is our first fanfiction, reviews are appreciated. Please point out errors for us!**

It was just a usual day for me. Wake up, go for my usual 5am run, come home, eat breakfast. One bowl of muesli, mixed with chopped up bananas and strawberry yoghurt, after all I have to keep healthy for my, um, side job. Then, I help out at my parent's bakery before grabbing a few treats for Alya and heading out to the local college.

I was walking out of my physics exam and checking my messages on my phone. A message from Tikki, my advisor. It has details about a new target, a blonde model from downtown Paris, as well as a picture and some intel on where to find him, and when.

As I walk home, and look up in wonder at the colour of the sky. Fading orange and pink hues. Paris can really be beautiful sometimes, can't it? But I do dream of getting out of this business, and doing something like living in a peaceful countryside. I knew this was a fantasy, but, I couldn't help it.

Reaching my house, I walk in the large front door and throw all my items onto my single bed, before proceeding through to the shed. I need to pick out some last minute weapons for tonight. I scan my options. Should I take the knife, or the daggers? How about a sniper? Nah, feel like getting up close and personal tonight. That's the upside to working in this business, you can always take your anger out on someone.

I wonder if Chat has been assigned the same target as me tonight… That is, Chat Noir, my partner. He gets assigned his own missions, but most of the time we get paired together. They call us the "Kwami's", which is Japanese for the "Gods". That annoying cat is always making terrible puns, and being completely flirty, I'm honestly surprised he manages to keep his sense of humour, seeing the job he does. He does sometimes prove to be useful though.

I decide on the throwing knives, which are two identical daggers, but the one I like the best is the one that fits perfectly into my right hand. I've had it since I was a child. I etched my initials into the handle when I was seven, thinking that even though it was designed to be used, it'd just be a decoration. Huh. Funny how things work out.

I take my sweet time getting into my disguise- a deep cherry red leather with black rectangular sections along the shoulders and lace up leather boots. As well as a fabric mask that fits perfectly onto my face. That too is a deep red, with black edging.

I call Chat using my cell phone, untraceable, of course. He picks up instantly, "How purrfect for you to call me on this fine afternoon, M'lady." I decide to ignore his awful pun, and continue.

"Have you been assigned to help me out tonight, Chat?"

"Oui, bugaboo." He flirts.

"How are you feeling, then? I wanna get up close this time." I inform him.

"Not too bad, M'lady. Thanks for asking. What about you?"

"Enough talk, I'm fine." I snap. He hums like he knows not to argue.

"Who have we been assigned to take out tonight?" He questions.

"Some rich boy model called Adrien Agreste who lives downtown." I say carelessly, picking at my cuticles, not catching on of how badly this wording would affect my partner in crime. All that I hear over the phone is Chat's silence, and static. "Chat? Hello?" I ask in annoyance.

"Are you sure its him, Bugaboo?" He says in nothing but a whisper, audible fear in his voice.

"Uh, yeah? Is something wrong, Chat?" I wonder. If he is out of the game, that will make this job a whole lot harder.

"Nothing, Bugaboo," he dismisses. "What's the plan?"

*Time skip*

We had organised a rendezvous point, outside the Agreste mansion, on a balcony across from the second storey. I check my phone, and see that it's a little past our scheduled meeting time. Where is he? He should have been here ten minutes ago. Another fifteen minutes' meander through, and there's still no sign of Chat. I'm getting worried that he's not gonna show.

I glance up at the grey, overcast sky, trying to guess when it'll start raining. My red and black leather suit rubbing against my skin as I pace back and forth.

At the moment I'm hidden away from onlookers below behind a thick edging of house plants. Too bad I hadn't chosen a sniper this time, it'll be much harder to infiltrate this guy's house without any guns.

I look down to my measly looking throwing knives, and pass the time aiming them at a bandanas tree. I remember my training well.

That stupid alley cat. He still isn't here. I'll guess I'll try without him. I can think fast on my feet. I just hope this doesn't end badly.

I look over to the building, and jump from the balcony I'm on onto one of the levels of the roof.

It's about 8 o'clock, meaning it isn't really dark yet. I walk over to the window I have discovered leads into my targets bedroom. It's small, but not too small for me. I shimmy my way through, the leather suit making it easier to move around.

I look up, and see this "Agreste" dude pacing backwards and forwards, almost like he's waiting for something. I slip inside impulsively without him noticing, but unfortunately for me, he's not the only one in there. There are two large men standing on the inside of his door, and they immediately notice that I'm here. They explode into action, yelling things at the blonde model across the room.

"AGRESTE, GET OUT!" One booms at him.

"MOVE, BOY!" The other yells. He turns and sprints over.

"NO!" Agreste screams, just as I throw my dagger at the bodyguard who came after me. I silently curse myself as the bodyguard falls to the ground, those guys aren't my target. His blood pools around his now lifeless body, and I don't give it a second thought.

His buddy charges at me, and I take my defensive stance. This guy is much larger than me, which means he's going on the defensive today. I slip around him silently, and slit his throat with ease. I place my feet on his back as he screams in pain, his blood trailing on my fingers. I jump off him, grabbing onto an overhead beam and swinging off it to get to the other side of the room. I land with a jarring pain up my legs, but push the pain away.

 _Perfect. I'm getting an adrenaline rush now._ I grin without meaning to, and lunge at the now closest bodyguard. I take down four of the now seven men in the room, leaving the three largest for last. _This'll be fun…_

I reach for my other knife, just as the stupid model jumps right in front of me, his arms spread outwards like Jesus on the cross, his feet planted firmly at shoulder width apart.

"Run!" He yells at me, and his bodyguards are screaming and trying to get past him. This would be the perfect time to kill this guy and run. His back is turned to me; he would never see it coming.

Just before I draw my favourite dagger, he turns and looks over his shoulder, his green eyes ablaze, staring at me with determination. "Quickly, get out of here!" Agreste yells at me, some urgency and, something else, lacing his voice.

I take a glance at the carnage in front of me, and my frenzy stops. I was high with power, drunk with my own ability. I don't wait to be asked a second time, and quickly run over to the window, taking a look back over my shoulder before I leap out.

The guards have already moved that idiot out of the way, and I realise he only bought me a few more seconds. They are running straight after me now, and the Agreste guy is yelling for me to leave while I still can. Who is this guy? I think, before launching myself out into the now dark night, but as I do so, I notice one of the bodyguards reaching out for me as I go. He grabs at my small waist, but manages to grapple at one of my daggers still in its sheath on my belt.

As I run away, I check which knife that guy snagged as I was leaping out the window. My favourite one. That asshole has my favourite dagger.


	2. Chapter 2- New Enemies

**Chapter 2**

Walking home, exhausted from the failure I just experienced, I open my phone to call Chat Noir. That unreliable dick is going to get an earful from me. Not showing up to a mission? How irresponsible is that?

My phone vibrates in my hand, and I realise Alya is calling me. I answer without hesitation. "What's up Alya?" I breathe, running a hand along my face, smudging blood along with it. It isn't my blood, it's that bodyguards blood. I shiver.

I struggle to hold the phone against my ear as I leap from rooftops in the dark. I wasn't giving much thought to the conversation at hand, after all, that was my first failure in years.

"You never hang out with me and Nino anymore girl!" She says, skipping small talk.

"I know Alya, I've just been really busy-"  
"And you're always at home or school." She continues. _If only she knew the real reasonI never hang out with her._ "So I was thinking…" She began.

"Alya…" I warned.

"That I could set you up on a double date with me, Nino and his best friend!" I sigh.

"Yeah, whatever, that's fine Alya." I reply without thinking. "What time?" I questioned lazily.

"Wait, girl, are you serious?" She exploded into the phone, hurting my ears.

"Yes Alya, just tell me the details." I prod her. The sooner I get off the phone with her, the sooner I can give an earful to Chat Noir.

"OMG this is great, um, tomorrow, 6 o'clock at that fancy Italian restaurant on _Allee Maurice Baumont_ street. The guy you'll be seeing is be Nino's best friend from high school! Remember to wear a nice dress, okay?" She gushed.

I put a notification on my phone for tomorrow. _6 o'clock, Allee Maurice Baumont street, Italian, wear something fancy._ "Nino's friend picked it out for us!" She burst into the phone.

"See you tomorrow, Alya." I say, very happy to get off the phone.

"Cool! See you Mari!" Alya practically vibrated.

"Yeah." I hang up the phone, and make another attempt to call Chat, when a drop of water lands on my screen. I look up, and another falls in my eyes, before it starts to pour.

I rush home, shoving my phone in my pocket. I guess Chat will have to wait. Once I get home, its nearly 11 o'clock, and my muscles are burning. I take a nice hot shower to relax my aching body, and fall onto my bed, very ready for sleep. Just as my head hits the pillow, my phone gets a message, from Tikki, in bold. **Message from Tikki:**

 _Miraculous have caught wind on your failed attempt of that blonde's life. They called an emergency meeting tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock at headquarters. Don't you dare be late._

I slump back into bed, dreading tomorrow's meeting, and turn to look out the windows. The rain has just gotten heavier, and my pot plants hanging over my balcony look like they're taking a beating. The pattering of the rain makes me restless, and my thoughts wander around to all the previous mission I had with Chat. He was always there for me… Why did he let me down? I close my eyes, and my negative thoughts drift me off into a light slumber.

The next morning, I wake, still in pain from the previous night, and slip into my normal every day clothes, grabbing my disguise and stuffing it into a bag. Great. I have two events that are going to go terribly today. The meeting, then that double date. Ugh, why did I agree to that!

I start towards headquarters. I park in the underground carpark a little further uptown, and head towards a secret elevator in the back left corner. Can't be too careful, even if the idea of a secret elevator is something straight out of a Get Smart movie.

Once I enter the elevator, I punch in a ten-digit code, and the doors slide shut, giving me just enough time to slip into my disguise. When the doors open, revealing headquarters, I step into the posh, bright, underground building, and head towards the meeting room in the back.

No matter how many times I see this place, I always think that we are seriously ahead of our time. I walk past the front desk, and where Nathanael sits. I prepare myself for the overly ecstatic redhead. "HI LADYBUG! HOW ARE YOU? HI!" He all but yells with a dramatic wave of his arms.

"Hey, Nath, I'm uh, good. I have this uh, thing, yeah, bye." I reply awkwardly.

I walk away, with him yelling compliments after me. I shake my head. I thought becoming an assassin would get me away from people, not make them even more eager to meet me.

I walk through the busy lobby, watching people move about in front of massive screens, walk about, answer calls and drink coffee. I walk past my office, and see that I have tonne of paperwork sitting on my desk dejectedly. Great. That means they've benched me. _Fucking fantastic._ I walk into the meeting room to see everyone waiting for me.

That's not gonna help my case, being the last person there. Master Fu is at the head of the table, with his advisor, Wayzz sitting next to him. I then look past him, and see Chat Noir standing, leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. He looks sad, with his dejected eyes pointed towards the ground, his arms flopped over his extended silver baton behind his head.

I decide not to go after him just yet, in this room full of people, and fast pace to take my chair next to Master Fu, the chair for the highest ranking assassin.

I look around the table, and spot a bunch of familiar faces. Time Breaker, known for her speed and stealth whenever she was given a target. The Gamer, known for his impressive intelligence and ability to assess a situation. Stormy Weather, the newest recruit, who so far seems way too over confident. The Bubbler, who uses his immense power to take out tens of people at once, and Simon Says, who uses hypnotism to not kill people, but rather make them kill themselves. I never knew why he didn't kill them himself, other than some twisted sense of preserving the "untainted hands of someone who hasn't killed" maybe.

Chat Noir moves from his spot in the corner to the seat next to mine, for the second highest ranking assassin. Our advisors, Plagg and Tikki, are seated along the wall behind their respective assassins, ready to take notes and well, advise.

There are three rules of the meeting room.  
1) Never come in without your disguise on. No-one here can know each other's identities, even trusted partners.

2) Don't ever speak back to Master Fu. He has been the head of Miraculous since I started here, and he has every right to send one of his attack dogs after you.

3) Always congratulate people when they successfully complete a mission. It's hard to keep a regulating head on your shoulders when you're murdering people on a day to day basis, and even the smallest compliments from people can help push them through to the next day. But, I had a feeling that the only attention I would be getting at this meeting would be very negative.

"Everyone, listen up." Master Fu started, his grey business suit touching the table from on his oversized belly. "I have called you all here to assess a terrible situation we find ourselves in. The immediate demotion of Ladybug."

My eyes snapped up to meet his piercing glare, my mouth dropping open. _This can't be…_ Several whispers were heard from around the room, and all eyes glanced up at me before back to Master Fu.

"Quiet." He voiced. "This is a serious matter. After her disgusting failure, we are in need of a vote." Wayzz stands, and hands a piece of paper to everyone in the room. Everyone except me.

"Master…?" I question, swivelling to look at him.

"Ladybug, wait outside." He orders. I widen my eyes. "Now." He repeats.

I walk outside, and start pacing, chewing on my fingernails. This has taken way too long, and I start to hear slightly raised voices. I hear Chat Noir, yelling something, then Master Fu's booming response. I don't hear anything else from Chat. _That coward._ I seethe in my head.

Tikki comes to get me, and I can't see from her expression what the ending vote was, so I follow her back inside. My nerves are so overwhelming, I feel faint. "Ladybug, sit down." Master Fu says, and from the expressions of most of the people in the room, I can tell that there were mixed feeling on my demotion.

"We have decided. You will be punished for your inadequate performance at the Agreste mansion." He pauses. "Six months of desk duty, and your position as the highest rank will fall to another."

I hear his words come in through one ear, and they float back out the other. _Six months? Demotion? This is…_ I can't describe it. "Master Fu." Wayzz says, and leans over to whisper something in his ear. He nods affirmatively.

"Ladybug, you're no longer on the Agreste case." He summarises, as Wayzz leans back again. "Everyone, we have other issues to discuss." And just like that, I'm no longer on the agenda. Just like that, all that I worked for, was tossed aside.

All because of… _Chat Noir_.

I hear the conversation, but don't take it in, as I'm silently seething in my place. Something about an infiltrator in Miraculous. But it doesn't matter now that I'm benched. I won't be asked to find out who it is anyway.

The meeting finishes soon after, and everyone files out of the room. Chat Noir waits for them to leave, sitting completely still, and I remain in my seat.

The door closes after Tikki and Plagg, who start bickering, and after it shuts, the meeting room's lights go out. It's dark, but light enough to still pick out small details. After we are alone, about ten seconds of silence pass between us. Heavy, pregnant silence.

He stands, walking over to the exit, and is about to reach for the handle to leave when I spring up from my chair, and in an instant I'm in front of him, placing a hand firmly on his chest. I ball it up, grabbing a fistful of his black leather suit, and keep my head down.

I glance up to gauge his reaction. He looked very, very guilty. That only makes me even more angry. I start pushing him back forcefully, only taking three massive strides to get to the other side of the room.

His head snaps up and I push him into the wall, smashing his skull against it again for good measure. "Where the hell were you!?" I yell, "I was counting on you! You fucking asshole! You left me there!" I scream at him. He doesn't respond, only stares at me straight in the eyes with a blank expression.

"How could you do that to me?" I whisper threateningly, getting over my initial outburst.

"I… I had a family emergency." He whispers, his head down.

"A… A. Family. Emergency." I repeat, still whispering. "You thought, that because you had a family emergency, that you could abandon me." I look up to him, and let go of his shirt. "You fucking coward. You don't want to tell the truth. I see it in your eyes, you are afraid to tell me." I clench my teeth, fury pouring out of me, making my hands twitch.

"Ladybug, I… I'm telling you the truth, it had to do with me and my family." He whispered.

"So what Chat? I thought I was part of your family too. I thought that since we trained together since we were teenagers. Since we have been on countless missions together, that you would stay with me. I thought that I mattered to you." I gush, knowing I'm taking things to far, and reading too far into it, but even though I knew those things, I wasn't quite sure whether I could convince myself that what I said wasn't true, either.

"Ladybug." He says, catching my attention with his serious tone. "You matter to me more than anyone else. You matter more to me that _I_ matter to me." He pauses, organising his thoughts. "So, if you really mean those things, you have to trust me." He says, trying to be soothing. He looks hopeful, like he finally believes he has a chance. I'm going to crush that hope, just like he crushed my position on the top of the leader board.

I let go of his shirt, and take two steps backwards. He remains with his back up against the wall.

"I'm sorry Chat," I begin, and prepare for the words that are about to come out of my mouth. "I don't think I'll ever be able to trust you the same again."

I watch his reaction, and see his shoulders droop, his face falls, and his hands lose all their tension. It should feel good. After all, he was the one that got me into this mess. But it doesn't.

"See you around Chat." I call back to him. Just as I reach for the door, someone on the other side pulls it open, but because of the curtains over the windows, I couldn't see them. I bump my head into a woman's chest, and look up.

Much to my annoyance, she's quite taller than me. "Oh, I'm sooo sorry." She coos. She reminds me of some sly animal. "I didn't see you down there! Hahahaha! I'm just joking with you!" She says placing a hand over her unreasonably oversized sized chest. Great, she has a massive bust, too.

"I was looking for Master Fu's office, is it near here?" She asks, looking down at me, clearly thinking I was some kind of assistant. I angrily look back up at her.

"It's down the hall to the righ-"

"Oh, I didn't know we had company!" She says, noticing Chat Noir in the corner. "I'm new here, pleased to meet you!" She says offering her hand to him, palm down, like a lady would offer her hand to a prince if he were asking her to dance, clearly wanting him to kiss it.

That made me even angrier, but I didn't know why. "Oh, um." Chat kicked off the wall. "Pleased to meet you too. I'm Chat Noir." He says, grabbing her hand, and placing a small kiss on her knuckles.

The simple gesture makes my chest hurt, but I didn't know how or why.

"So I've heard! I hear you're quite the wonder, taking second place in the ranking of assassins, here at Miraculous." She says sweetly, drawing out the sound of the 's', latching onto him.

Who the hell is this girl? Clinging to _my_ alley cat- woah, when, exactly, did he become _my_ alley cat?

"Oh, yeah, I guess." He responds, clearly still not over the argument we just had, as his eyes were flicking up to me again and again.

"Well, I'd like to meet the person who's in first place, since I couldn't imagine anyone who could possibly be better than you, kitty!" She laughs. Again, I can't figure out why the cute nickname annoys me only coming from her mouth. I only just met her, but this girl gets on my nerves.

I widen my stance, and clear my throat. "Miss Ladybug, at your service." I say, a wide smile on my face as I bow deeply, holding one hand in front of me and the other behind my back. She laughs, throwing her head back.

"Awe, that's so funny! You're so cute! Where is the real Ladybug, hon?" My face changes from condescending to absolutely outraged, and instead of arguing with her with words, I decide I've had enough of her.

In a flash I have her pinned on the floor, my forearm pressing into the back of her head, all her weapons she had concealed underneath her orange leather suit – which looked far too similar in design to my own - laid out on the floor, and her face pressed into the carpet.

"I think you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, hey, hon?" I whisper into her ear, using the nickname she had for me, on her.

A smile starts to play on her lips. "Wow, no wonder they chose you." She whispered slowly, her eyes seeming to start glowing. "You must kill people without even thinking about it. You mustn't even feel anything when the light fades from their eyes." She hisses back, and my face screws up in anger, my teeth gritting.

I feel my body tingle with possibility. If I applied enough pressure in a particular spot, I could snap her spine. She could be dead in seconds.

Chat must have known I was thinking something along those lines, because his hands grasp firmly around my waist, and pull me easily off her. For some reason his contact makes the blood rush to my face, and I rip his hands from my sides. He backs up with his hands beside his head in surrender.

I stand, and after Chat apologises to this girl for his "friend's rude behaviour", he helps her up. "So, what was your name then?" He asks quickly, eager to change the subject.

"Oh, my name's Volpina!" She puts on a smile, completely shutting me out of her field of vision as she turns her back to me. "Master Fu has assigned the top spot, for me to work with Chat Noir!"


	3. Chapter 3- Heavy Burden

**Chapter 3**

I drove home thinking of all the ways I could brutally _murder_ Volpina, before getting ready for my 'exciting' double date. Why did I agree to do this again? _Oh, joy._ At least it's an opportunity to dress up nice, and impress someone, I guess.

After Volpina informed us of who she was, I decided to bottle up my anger for a later time. Something told me that I would get the chance to battle it out with that wretch soon enough, but the sooner the better, for me.

I was walking out of my house, after getting ready, and caught my reflection in the window of the bakery next door. My thigh high red dress vibrant in the afternoon sunlight. The heart-shaped cut-out on the back made me feel adorable, but I wasn't in the mood for a double date. Alya always tries to get me to do these things, but I had always just said no.

Memories of Volpina's disgusting words plagued my thoughts, and made me even angrier. First she took my position, then she had the balls to tell me how inferior I am to her. I held the position of best assassin for three years straight, and as soon as I made one little mistake she jumped on it like a fox. I hadn't even heard of Volpina, let alone met her, before today. It doesn't make much sense as to why she already hated me. Maybe she was after _Chat Noir._

 _That ugly, no good, rotten, God forsaken bitch!_

And how could Master Fu do that to me? It wasn't even my fault; I was counting on Chat Noir to be there for me!

I was so frustrated as I walked over to my car that I didn't even remember getting in and turning on the ignition. I angrily muttered as I drove away, my dress riding up as I got more aggressive with the pedals. I made my way to the restaurant (not necessarily staying within the speed limit) and found myself in front of the entrance much faster than I had hoped I would be.

 _Goddamn it. How come I had to be preoccupied with thoughts the day that Alya asked me to do this?_

I waited outside the doors like instructed, and it turned out no-one was here yet. I passed the time by playing a game on my phone, bobbing my head up at about thirty second intervals, hoping Alya and Nino would be the first to arrive.

I wonder who this guy is… All Alya told me was that he was Nino's best friend. He better be good looking, otherwise I wouldn't be very happy about this. Well, even more so.

I look up again, and see some blonde guy walking towards me. He's also playing on his phone, eyes downwards, with a grey scarf around his neck, so I can't see his face.

I don't care about what his face looks like though. I can see from the muscular arms and lean legs that he's attractive. _Gods I wished that guy was my date…_ I take note of the fact that he sits at the other end of the park bench, looking just as bored and not wanting to be here as I was.

Another five minutes take too long to happen, and since the battery on my phone had started low, it was now running on 10%.

"Adrien!" I hear, in a familiar voice. I turn, and see my best friend's boyfriend, Nino, clapping the unknown blonde man at the other end of the park bench on the shoulder, and because his back is turned, I still can't see his face.

"Sup' Nino?" He asks. _What…_

"Marinette!" Alya calls out excitedly, as she sees me behind the two boys. When the two young men turn to me I am greeted with a warm smile from my friend, but the moment my face catches on the man standing next to him, my breath hitches in my throat.

"Oh, are you my date?" He says, laughing. I don't find it funny. "Sorry, if I'd have known I would have introduced myself. I'm Adrien Agreste." He places his hand in front of me as if to shake it, but I'm too distracted. Adrien Agreste _holy crap_.

I stand there staring at him wide-eyed in awkward silence. "Um, are you okay?" He asks, very politely, with a concerned look on his face. _Adrien Agreste. Adrien freaking Agreste. The guy I tried (and failed) to murder._

"Oh, y-yeah sure, sorry." I stutter back, taking his hand. Nino and Alya share a look that I know means _"_ _What's wrong with Marinette this must be fixed"_ and take the lead.

"Come along, Mari." Alya says, taking my arm, and leading me in front of the boys, walking me towards the door. I can tell she's doing it to show off the cut out at the back of my dress, but I doubt that Adrien would care.

"Mari, are you okay? He's pretty good looking, huh?" She leans in closer and giggles. Oh. She thought I was gobsmacked by his beauty. Great.

I brush it off and laugh. "Ha, yeah. Sorry, I just, thought he was someone else." I push the topic away.

"Wow." I breathe, as we walk through the doors of the restaurant. Okay, leaving the house, I felt cute, but now, looking around at women with literal fur coats and probably twenty million dollar shoes on, I felt way too underdressed. My little black flats looked pitiful next to glamorous heels, my cheap lip gloss looking like something out of a five year olds make up kit.

I wanted to hide in the corner, but my instinct from being an assassin kicked in, making me want to look intimidating, a hard task when one's body is so small.

"So, Marinette, do you like this place?" A voice says behind me. I jump from being startled, and step backwards to regain my balance, managing to step on his foot.

"Ow." Adrien mutters.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" I say, then I remember who he is, my target. Well, technically I was unassigned the case, but really, if I'm this close, they wouldn't mind me taking him out?

I straighten my back, making me a whole _half a centimetre_ taller. Great. Why am I so freaking short? "I'm sorry for that. Yes, I do like this place. But I could have used a heads up as to how to dress, _hey Alya_!" I say, turning to her, pointedly saying her name louder.

"Girl, I said fancy." She shrugs. I roll my eyes and we make our way up to the concierge.

The chandelier and red fluffy carpets look like something from a ballroom in a Disney movie.

Why did I feel so insecure right about now? Oh right, yes. I remember. Because the guy I was assigned to kill (but failed to) was taking me on a date, and before I knew who he was I was checking him out, and after I knew who he was a stepped on his foot and made it awkward, and I'm about as underdressed as a hairless cat, and there are people looking at me weird, and I can't decide whether or not it's because I'm short or because I look like I'm in my underwear and I can't believe he's actually good looking and I think I should just kill him now and-

I only now take notice of the outfits of my companions. Alya is wearing a glamorous, dark, long sleeved dress, with a lighter shade of grey cardigan over the top. I notice that the thread on each of the seams is golden, which catches the light as she turns. It's beautiful, and she looks amazing with the smoky eye to match.

Nino is wearing a smart black suit, something I never _ever_ pictured him wearing, but he looks good too. Though neither of them were wearing contacts, still sporting their glasses, an indication that even though they're dressed up, they're still Alya and Nino.

Finally, my partner for the night, is wearing another suit, but his is a deep blue with a white shirt underneath, a long skinny black tie running down the front. He is still wearing a light grey scarf which looks completely out of place, like he's only wearing it for conventional purposes rather than looking beautiful.

Just thinking about him being gorgeous makes heat rise to my face, kind of like when I blushed when Chat grabbed my waist. It was weird and it didn't have an explanation, it just happened. I need to stop that from happening.

We get seated at a very nice table with a window overlooking La Seine. I didn't know it could look so pretty, with the right setting.

Adrien pulls back my seat for me, and I sit down very quickly. _Why did he have to be good looking?_ I take a side glance at him and shut out all the polite start of a meal chatter going back and forth between the other three people at the table, and examine his features. He really was made to be a model, wasn't he?

I study the curve of his jawline, and the perfect planes and valleys on his face, the symmetricity of his features. His good looks were like something from a movie.

His bright green eyes met mine, and he raised his eyebrows in a way that made him look even cuter. "Marinette, what are you planning on getting?" He says softly, so only I can hear. I turn red from embarrassment of being caught staring, and realise that they were now looking at the menus.

"O-oh. Um…" I begin, taking in the things on the menu. I don't understand half of them, and start to panic. I thought working at a bakery would help my knowledge of food, but right now I don't even know what 70% of these foods are! Adrien notices my distress, and points to each food, giving a brief explanation of what each was.

After he finished telling me what each were he proceeded to recommend what he liked.

"Wow, you must come here often to know what foods are the best." I comment light heartedly, trying to remember what he said about the foods.

"Yeah. My father really enjoys coming here, but I don't think the food is the only thing he likes about this place." I wait for more, but he says nothing. So, I prod.

"Oh? What does that mean?" I ask.

"Oh, well, my mother really liked the old place that was built here." He says quietly. Lik _ed._ Not lik _es. Oh…_

"Oh, I'm sorry." I say.

"Its fine!" He says cheerily, putting on an Agreste smile. Its wonky and higher up on one side, and I realise how perfectly imperfect that makes him. But it's not a really happy smile though, like his face is trembling with fear behind a mask. I'm angry when his lips start to move again, because that means I can't study them for long enough to burn their curve into my retinas.

"My mother was a very happy woman; I always knew that. She never let my father be unhappy." He smiled wistfully, and continued reading the menu. "I think I'm gonna get…" His words trail away in my mind, and I'm even more torn than I was at the concierge. He's a nice guy. I don't understand why someone would want him dead.

After we eat, I tell them I'm feeling light headed, and that I need some air. It's partly true, because I had about three glasses of wine, and normally I would have about half of one. Another side effect of being so short- my alcohol limit is so much smaller.

After shrugging off the questions from my worried friends, I make my way to the balcony over the water. The moonlight tonight was blooming over the city, and faint car horns were heard in the distance. I stare at the stars in wonder, and I surprise myself. I didn't know I could still recognise beauty. Not anymore.

After a few minutes, I decide to head back inside, thinking they would send someone out to get me if I waited too long. Just as I turn back, my date comes out with me, his hair being ruffled adorably in the breeze. _Shut up! You aren't allowed to think he's cute!_ I yell at myself internally.

"Marinette, are you sure you're alright? It's pretty cold out here." He says, walking up next to me at the fencing.

"Oh. No, I'm fine, I just needed a breather." I say, smiling at him.

"That's a relief." He says, leaning against the rail. He notices me staring at him, and sends a playful smile in my direction over his shoulder.

"I uh, I wanted to know if we could maybe, do this again sometime?" He asked, suddenly bashful. _God, I wasn't doing that to him, was I?_

"Oh! Um, yeah. Sure I'll-I'll ask Alya if she and Nino want-"

"No!" He interrupts. I stare at him, and realise that's all I've been doing for these moments. "Oh, I mean. Did you want to go, just the two of us. Not, um, with Alya and Nino." He amends.

 _Oh no he's hot… "Yes."_ I breathe. He lights up, and all the uneasy feelings he seemed to have before disappeared. He reminded me of someone else I knew so much, but I honestly couldn't tell who.

"Cool." He says back, and leans up against the railing with his elbows. He gazes upwards, towards the stars. "They're beautiful, don't you think?" He whispers.

I follow his gaze, copying his casual stance against the railing. "Yeah."

 ** _She didn't notice his watchful glance at her from the side, as he studied her infinitely blue eyes._** _They carried more than that sparkling beauty, though. They carried sorrow, and pain, as if she had witnessed things she was never supposed to witness. They reminded him so much of his mother's eyes, even though they had no resemblance in their colour. This girl… She wasn't showing every part of her. She was hiding something._

 _So he vowed. Vowed to let her drop that heavy burden she carried around behind her eyes, onto him. He vowed to make her trust him enough to let go of those memories. He vowed that no matter what happened, or who she turned out to be, he was going to see both sides of her._

I vaguely am aware of his examining gaze, but I'm too consumed in the constellations glittering above my head. The stars are usually barely visible at night, so it's rare they look so pretty. I feel his gaze shift to the stars again, and catch my chance to glance at him in turn.

 _He is hiding something._ I decide. _Much like me. He's too much like me. I'm not allowed to like anyone. He won't like me. Not the whole of me. And people aren't allowed to only love a part of a person. It doesn't work like that._


	4. Chapter 4- A Look in Her Eyes

A/N: Kind of a crappy chapter, sorry, but don't worry! The next about ten chapters are in the making.

 **Chapter 4**

"Should we head back inside?" I ask, not wanting to spend much time with my failed assignment. I'm still conflicted about what to do.

We go back inside the manor to see Nino and Alya having some kind of heated discussion.

We sit down and I can't help but notice the tense atmosphere that has built around the four of us. "Are we interrupting?" I ask politely.

"Nino and I have something to tell you!" Alya blurts out. Nino sends a glare that could kill a man her way. Adrien and I watch her expectantly, waiting for this news she's so eager to tell. "We're engaged!" She yells enthusiastically, earning a few shushes from nearby waiters and congratulatory glances from other tables. She quiets down. "We're engaged!" She whisper-yells again, and I feel a rush of excitement.

Adrien and I stared at the two of them for a few seconds before we both squealed in glee. "Oh my god Alya that's fantastic! When did he propose and where?" I questioned.

"Um…" Alya said awkwardly, glancing at her partner for permission. He nodded.

"Actually…" He began.

"I was the one who proposed." Alya finished.

"Oh, good job, man." Adrien said sarcastically, "Alya always had more balls than you."

"Awe, Honeybun's just shy!" Alya said teasingly, jabbing Nino in the side. Adrien and I burst out into laughter at hearing Nino's nickname.

"Honeybun?" We both exclaim. Alya was glowing with happiness as Nino hung his head in embarrassment. "H-Honeybun?" Adrien repeated between laughter. At hearing his nickname again, I laugh so hard my face flushes red and I have to conceal a snort.

We manage to settle down, and sincerely told them what we thought. "No, but, really guys, congratulations." I tell them, reaching over to grab Alya's hand to see the engagement ring. We giggle between ourselves for a small amount of time as the boys talk about wedding plans.

"So, when is the wedding?" Adrien asks politely.

"In about two months!" Alya jumps on his question, abandoning the little conversation we were having.

Her outburst is incredibly adorable, but it doesn't overshadow the shock Adrien and I experienced.

"Two months?" I exclaim, Adrien left gaping.

"Wow, you two sure know how to get things done quickly." Adrien says, slightly still reeling.

"Well, I really wanted it to happen at this wedding place in this park. They have these adorable cherry blossom trees and in the right season all the pretty petals fall down like rain and it'll just be like something out of a movie don't you think!" Alya rambles on and on.

I laugh and Adrien smiles his radiant smile, putting me at ease, making me almost miss what Alya said next. Almost.

"So, Marinette, as my **_maid of honour_** you and I are going wedding dress shopping! You gotta help me choose the bridesmaids colours." Alya smirks at me.

"Y-you want me to be your maid of honour?" I stutter, mostly in shock.

"Of course I do, girl!" She exclaimed. "What would be my wedding without you there next to me?"

I start to tear up, and butterflies swarm in my stomach. "Oh wow. Thanks Alya. I-I don't know what to say…"

"Oh my god, Marinette don't cry! It's my wedding you aren't supposed to be the emotional one!" Alya laughs, tearing up herself. We all giggle and Alya and I wipe our eyes. Nino started hugging Alya and she nuzzled into his neck, trying to hide her tears, laughing. "Goddamn it." She mumbled, and tried to straighten out her hair. "Anyway, what about dessert?"

After we finished eating and chatting about the wedding, we all set off for the concierge. We picked up our jackets and scarves, and I regret my decision to wear such a short dress. I take my jacket gratefully, hugging myself as I stepped out of the doors. Adrien and I waved goodbye to Nino and Alya, and I shiver as another gust of wind blows through the streets.

I try to cover it up and turn away from Adrien, but he notices. "Oh, here." He says, unwrapping the scarf he had around his neck and offering it to me. I hesitate before taking it, but wrap it around my neck nonetheless. I's soft, made of some kind of cotton, and very puffy, protecting me wondrously from the wind.

The only thing that made it uncomfortable for me is what it smells like. I never knew the smell of something could make me blush. It smelled like body odour, mixed with green apples. It was what Adrien smelled like. What was it. It's… familiar. God, that's weird.

"Do you want me to walk you to your car?" He offers, and takes my hand. It made my whole arm go warm, and I felt helpless to say no. _You're a killer._ I remind myself. _You can't like this guy. You won't._ I plead.

"Actually, Adrien." I begin sternly, unwrapping the scarf slowly and unclasping his hand. "I have to go." I don't offer and explanation as I move away, and say some half arsed efforts at farewells.

He politely lets me go, but reminds me of my promise to go out again another time. "How about ice-cream or something? I can contact you through Nino." He says, and takes a step to follow me. I gulp.

"Yeah. S-Sure. But right now I have to go." I scramble to get away, and as I get into my car I glance at him in my side mirrors. He is clutching the scarf in his left hand, and his other is clasping and unclasping at his side, his eyes drilling holes into the back of my head as I drive away.

 **Thoughts of him plague me, and I hate it. He's there all the time. I can't do this.** ** _I'm not allowed to fall in love._**

The next morning, I wake with a splitting headache, and decide that it'd be better to stay in bed and get Tikki to send the work to me instead of go in. My job entails many things, including learning to stomach the sight of missing limbs, and being able to kill on command. But something that one wouldn't expect was to have to be able to fill out paperwork and hack into websites.

Surprisingly, that's all I do for the _whole day._ Unsurprisingly, people all over Miraculous forget or either can't be bothered to do the paperwork that helps to erase our targets from any archives on the planet, so I'm stuck with having to actually _finish_ everyone else's work.

It's painful, and I have to constantly take breaks because of my headache, but it's better than having to deal with Nathanael breathing down my neck. Honestly, what's with that guy?

After the sun goes down, I get a call on my untraceable phone. I pick up, expecting it to be Tikki or someone else from work.

"Hello?" I answer.

"Ladybug?" A hopeful voice calls. I know that voice, even though it's so muffled over the phone.

" _Chat Noir._ " I grumble, making sure any of the politeness I showed when I first answered was completely erased. Or, more so, any of _Marinette_ that I showed was completely erased. "What." I ask bluntly.

"I just… I wanted to meet you." He says, getting straight to the point.

"And why, little Kitty, would you want to do that?" I ask, taking a sickly sweet approach to scare him.

"Just, meet me. Please?" He asks again. I hesitate. What on earth would he want to talk about?

"Fine." I say, after a long pause. "Where and when?"

I leap onto the top landing of the Eiffel Tower with a grunt, and my legs ache when I've reached there. My lungs burn, and my chest is rising and falling unsteadily.

After a short conversation, Chat and I decided on the Eiffel Tower as our place to meet, around 9:30pm. With all the lights on, I thought he was trying to pull some romantic crap and set the scene. Leave it to Chat Noir to come up with something clichéd like that. But with the amount of smoke and fog in the air, it's hardly beautiful.

I look around, and the view is anything but pretty. Sure, the lights are glittering, but the moon is hidden behind threatening storm clouds, and there are both angry and friendly honking cars filling in any blank spaces. People fill the streets, in tiny cars or riding bikes, ignoring other pedestrians as if they didn't matter at all.

The lights.  
The sounds.  
The people.

It's all a cacophony of modern ways, thrown together. _This is why I only talk to certain people. This is why I became what I did._

At 9:35, Chat shows up, heaving in front of me, his black mask covering his face. "Ladybug." He gasps, bending over, hands on his knees.

"What is it you wanted to say to me, Chat Noir?" I speak directly at him, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Gimme a minute, wouldya?" He takes deep breaths, and moves to sit over the side of the ledge. I stay standing until his breathing evens out, and he uses his baton to pat the place next to him, an invitation.

"What makes you think I'd lower myself to your level?" I hiss. I know it's a stretch, and that he only wanted me to sit down, but I can barely contain my rage.

"Ladybug." His eyes droop, but he never turns towards me. Keeping his eyes cast downward onto the hazing bright mist that is Paris. The yellow glow outlines his muscular toning, and reflects against the light sheen of sweat on his brow.

He sighs, and stretches backwards, so his head is upside down when he looks at me.

"What are you doing, Tomcat?" I ask, not at all friendly.

He watches me for a moment, saying nothing, before quickly turning over, with a feline grace. He stalks towards me, and keeps coming closer. He grabs both of my shoulders, and it takes me a moment to react.

I twist his left hand backwards, turning his body so my knee is on his back. "What are you doing." I repeat, a dangerous quiet in my voice.

"I just wanted to see your eyes." He whispers, after a pause.

I stop pushing. My eyes? What could he possibly want with seeing my eyes? "Why?" I snap, driving force back into the lock I've put him into. He is kneeling in front of me, his back to me, my breath warming the side of his neck, the power and skill I possess dangerously close to breaking his arm.

"Because." He starts, "They remind me of someone else's eyes." His baton clatters to the ground, since he can't hold it, breaking the silence.

The seriousness, the sincerity of his words. That's the only thing stopping me from breaking his arm. The only thing that's making me allow him to rise again. The only thing allowing his curious face to stare at me, to caress the sides of my face, and open his neon eyes to mine.

He takes a step closer, and soon we are keeping each other warm with our body heat.

His breath mingles with mine, and I start to absentmindedly want a mint.

He stares for long enough that people who weren't well acquainted with each other's faces would make them uncomfortable. I want to move. But I don't. I don't flex any of the muscles in my body, because of how important this seems to him.

The moment is not at all romantic, and it doesn't make me feel anything aside from sympathy towards Chat. Because at the same time that he's studying my eyes, I'm studying his. And the underlying thing I notice behind the bravado of the toxic colour, is the solitude. He's lonely. I guessed that all assassins were. But this… This was overwhelming.

When he finally let's go, I can't tell if its minutes, seconds or hours that have passed. He simply says, "Thank you." Before starting to walk away, beginning a long climb down.

A chill crept up my spine at the finality of those words. They seem less like something out of gratefulness and more like what someone were to say to another while they were on their death bed. Almost like they would be giving up on someone.

 _What, exactly, is he giving up on?_

My body moves by itself, climbing my way down the opposite side of the tower. I'm confused, angry, frustrated, and most of all, just hurting. Hurting because he never explains anything he does, and most of the time that's been okay. When we were partners I never had to ask what he was planning next to figure it out. I just always knew.

But, now…

 _I can't seem to reach him at all._


	5. Chapter 5- Double agent

**Chapter 5**

Once I get home, my leather mask starts to aid the horrible headache. God, it's awful. Worse yet this terrible feeling in my gut after Chat randomly stared directly into my eyes has been making itself quite at home.

I get to bed late, and lay there, wondering how my life got so messed up.

"I wonder if maybe I am being punished for something I did in my past life." I muse, quoting Alya when we were in high school and she had basically forgotten every item she needed on that precise day.

I can't find it in myself to smile about the memory, though.

The next morning, I feel better, but the uneasy feeling in my gut has gotten worse. I realise today I would actually have to go _into_ work, not because I want to see Chat Noir, of course, but because I need to get some of the other paperwork off my desk. The sooner I can do that the better.

I enter through the elevator, and I am welcomed by the sound of hushes and people telling others to be quiet. They probably think I can't see their glances out of the corner of my eye, but they're dead wrong. I have to know what's going on around me at all times.

I quickly make my way to my office, which is stuffy and dusty from its lack of use. The moment I turn on the fans, I also shut the blinds, so people can't see in. It's ridiculously cramped, but I guess they never thought I would need an office in the first place.

Three hours later, I am still working. The queasiness in my gut has been overshadowed by the headache again, and I no longer care about anything else that's happening except getting out of this godawful office. That is, until I hear a sly voice coming from outside the room.

I follow the annoying sound of Volpina's voice until I can hear her and Chat's conversation clearly from down the hall, being careful to stay out of sight. Why exactly I decided to follow them in the first place escapes me, but I don't question it too much.

"So, Kitty, who's our next target?" She asks sweetly.

"We only just finished our last job, Volpina, I don't understand why you're so eager." He jokes, but I can hear the strain in my voice. Some dark part of me derives pleasure from seeing him endure the frustration of talking to someone like her, but the only thing I'm focused on is the fact that she said "next target" so simply.

As if she and Chat had worked together their entire lives.

"Awe, I was just wanting to spend more time with you!" she laughs, making me gag. What makes me gag more is the horrifying sound of Chat's forced laughter afterwards. God, she's driving him crazy and he's not even saying anything about it.

"Volpina, Chat." A voice says. Master Fu interrupts them, and tells them about a new target they were assigned to. It was almost ridiculous how easily Volpina seems to blend in, as if I was never there at all.

"Her name is Spice. Her alias, anyway." Master Fu says, telling them more details.

"May I ask who assigned us to her?" Volpina asks.

"Actually, she did." He responds, and the two of them stop.

"Wait, she asked us, to try and kill her? Why?" Chat frowns.

They discuss what her reasoning could be, but I know all too well.

 _A power play. She's telling us she may be more powerful than the two top dogs combined._

Well, they're going to have three of Miraculous's top dogs now. There's no way I'm letting Chat go into a fight like that with that bitch.

Two hours later, I'm hiding in the shadows, following the sound of Volpina's insufferable flirting and Chat's awkward laughter. I'm not wearing my suit, and I realised that was a risk before coming here. But there was no way I was going to be seen as Ladybug out on a job, they'd just prolong my suspension from field work even further.

Not that I'm really listening to those rules anyway...

I leap after them every time they jump from building to building, following with ease. I still had my other dagger with me, concealed underneath my wind breaking jacket, making me feel more secure.

"Volpina, this is where she said to meet her." I hear Chat say finally, and the witch in question agrees.

"Yes, it was." She reaches to her hip, and uncoils a weapon that looks far more dangerous in her hands than I would have thought possible. A whip of black leather, with a metal tip on the end. It would have killed a man just with a flick of a wrist, and right now possibly the most dangerous person in Paris is trailing it behind her as she moved through the shadows.

We had stopped in an area without many people, aside from the stray homeless person, who moved away once they saw the scary woman with the whip.

I looked from around a cement support beam, keeping my eyes focused on the dark patches of shadow in front of the two assassins in front of me.

 _She's here. I can feel it._

A clipped laugh comes from the shadows, and the fog clears just enough to make out a yellowy outline of a woman. She is sitting sideways to us, with one knee up, resting an arm across it casually. Her other hand is behind her, supporting her back, with strange looking thin blades in between each finger.

"You know, I thought that Master Fu would send Chat and Ladybug at me, not you. Whoever you are. Some newbie, no doubt. Poor Master Fu." She speaks fluidly, with random vibrating noises coming from inside her throat. It made her sound inhuman.

"He thinks that some poor little woman will be able to defeat me, along with his loyal retriever." She mocks them both, and I fight the urge to come out and slaughter her right on the stop for being so overconfident.

"Well, then, I think we can find out why he sent a newbie on a mission, can't we?" Volpina starts, but before Spice or even Chat or I can react she's leaping at her, rearing her whip back, ready to swing it at her.

I have the smallest amount of a moment to glace at the woman with the blades between her fingers, and watch a delirious smile spread across her face. Then Volpina sends her whip slashing forwards, the material backed up with enough momentum that when it hits the ground that Spice was just sitting on, the metallic tip cracks the cement slightly.

When I glance back at where she was, the yellowy woman is gone, and Chat and Volpina are standing alone in the darkness.

A few disapproving clucks come from the shadows, the sound coming from everywhere. "Tsk tsk tsk. Not very much in a talking mood are we, newbie?" She says, the direction the voice was coming from shifting, leaving us cocking our heads to all sides at different times. "Why don't we play a little game, hmm?"

The voice echoes throughout the cavernous space we occupied, sending unwelcoming shivers up my spine.

"This game is called, 'Where am I'. It involves me, throwing daggers at your faces, as you jump around like little insects dodging them. But! You can only win once you find me!" She laughs.

Chat bristles and dodges a sharp small blade that would have hit him directly in the side of the head had he not noticed it. The said blade then continues and lodges itself into the concrete behind him with a sharp clang.

"Oh! You win a point! Let's heighten the stakes, shall we?" She coos dangerously. The sound of blades being unsheathed was all they heard, before blade after blade was thrown directly at the two assassins in the middle of the space.

The two expertly dodged them, but one managed to nick itself across the side of Volpina's cheek. She growled inhumanly, and continued to dodge the oncoming weapons. They were only coming from mostly one side. There must be a ledge or something up there…

It took everything inside me to not run out and protect Chat. Everything. My fingers were twitching to want to move. But no. Even if I told him I didn't trust him, it wasn't true. I realise that now. I do trust him. I trust that he will be able to protect himself.

"WELL. I'm quite impressed." Spice said, sounding annoyed. Wow. This chick really needs to chill occasionally. The blades stopped coming, leaving Chat and Volpina breathing heavily in amongst the silence.

"Try this on for size then." She started throwing daggers again, but from a different direction, catching both Chat and Volpina off guard, but they turned around just in time.

It was only now that I noticed something. Every throw that she made wasn't necessarily thrown directly at the two. Instead, it seemed like they were supposed to dodge them, to allow the knives to wedge themselves into the main cement supporting pillar in the centre of the structure. Oh no…

The damage looked half done. There was now a crack spiralling out from the middle, but Chat and Volpina were too busy to notice as they continued to try and figure out where the blades were coming from. No, they weren't blades anymore. They were small darts. She must have run out of knives.

Dart after dart was wedging itself into the pillar, until a huge crack sounding like ice breaking from a glacier shot through the building. Chat and Volpina turned around, their backs to the darts.

A small section of the dust and shadow cleared, allowing me to see Spice clinging to another support beam, readying a larger knife. Oh gods. They weren't paying attention. Spice reared her arm backwards, and threw the dagger. Directly at Chat.

My feet were moving before I noticed they were. And I was sprinting. Sprinting faster than I thought I could, driven as I saw the malicious gleam in Spice's smile, the way the knife glittered in the sunlight that had allowed me to spot her in the first place.

I was a metre away from Chat, but the blade was half a metre. So I did the only thing I could do to stop it. I didn't have enough time to grab something else to block it. So I threw myself in front of it, arms out, I'm not sure why.

I gasped, and the dagger slid itself into my gut. Chat turned, and his eyes widened into saucers upon seeing me. "M-Marinette?" He stuttered.

"Party pooper." Was the last thing Spice said, before the roof collapsed on us. It was booming, and the concrete feel in massive chunks around us. There were screams from Volpina, and delighted cackles from Spice, accompanied by desperate yelling from Chat.

I fell onto my knees, and the dust cleared around us. I clutched my gut and brought my fingers to my face. They were covered in blood. My hands resembled the red lush gloves the women at the restaurant Adrien invited us to were wearing, I though dreamily, starting to lose what was happening around me.

"Awe, you guys are still here?" Spice whines. "I thought that would have gotten you."

"Marinette the hell did you do that? Why are you here?" Chat asked, ignoring her. I hadn't realised he had clasped my shoulders, and was staring me directly in the face.

I had enough time to think, and say, "How do you know who I am when I look like this, Kitty Cat?" before falling to the ground entirely.

I hear a snappy but tired voice from somewhere. "Chat? What are you doing? Help me!" It said. It was Volpina. She either hadn't noticed me, or hadn't cared, and thought she was better than the girl that just got stabbed by the airborne knife. "Hah. You're a bitch." I say, no longer caring what happened.

"She's hurt." He calls to her, ignoring my words, but not disagreeing. "I have to help her."

"What? Why? She got in our way, there's no way we can just let Spice go now! And for some useless girl." She argues, trying to fend off Spices attacks at the same time as arguing.

"She saved my life!" He calls back, lifting me off the ground. I don't have enough strength to hold my neck up, so it lolls against his chest. "I'm not gonna leave her here."

"What about me, you useless idiot?" She barks, losing all her false grace, and smashing her whip into the pillar where Spice was standing two mere moments ago.

"I don't know! Just go after her! NOW!" He calls, starting to run with me in his arms, my blood covering his clothes. "I'll report back to HQ soon; I just need to get her stitched up!"

"Just KILL HER!" She screams back, her voice cracking. There was something in the way she said it. It wasn't like she _actually_ wanted Chat to be there. It was like… False desperation.

"I'LL COME BACK SOON!" He booms back, still running. I look over to Volpina, and I swear I see a smile on both of the female assassins faces, but my vision blurs, and he glances at me, with a very concerned frown. "Where do you live?" He asks.

I stumble over the words, but they manage to come out as I tell him my address, the grins of the females out of mind.

 ***Volpina POV***

"You think they're far enough away?" I ask, and glance back at my old partner.

"Yeah, we're all good." Spice says, and drops down to pick up all her daggers from the rubble. She flicks a few shards of cement from her outfit, and places all the daggers back into their original slots.

"So, how's double agent life treating you, Honey?" She says, still focusing on retrieving her weapons.

I watch her, amused, and reply, "You know, not all that bad, honeycomb head. It's not too bad."

"I knew you were good." Spice continues, "But I didn't think you'd move up their ranks quite that quickly. I thought it'd take three months, at least."

I laugh, not actually finding any humour. "Yeah, I'm pretty good."

She straightens, and turns to face me, not bothering to find any decency not to stare in silence. I match her gaze. It's calm, calculating.

"How did you do it?" She finally asks.

"Simple." I begin. "I started by researching the two best in there. They worked as partners- even better. All I had to do was ruin their trust in one another, and one of them would fail, leaving a vacancy needing to be filled."

Spice nodded, and found a large piece of rubble to perch onto. "MmmHmm."

"Then, I watched them some more. I found out one of their 'golden rules' was their identities, like, it was some Miraculous assassin taboo for someone to find out who the other one was. Naturally, I wanted to figure out who they were anyway."

I found my own piece next to her, and started winding up my whip as I kept going. "So, I figured, if I made them both be assigned one of themselves, but just as, you know, a person, one of them wouldn't show up, and it'd either make the other one back down or make them go it alone. Turned out to be the latter. I managed to assign a kill order to Adrien Agreste – or, as you know him, Chat Noir – took me about three days to figure it out – he really needs to hide it more – just as me without my mask, and they went on the mission the other day. So Chat never showed, and Ladybug was _really_ pissed." I laugh. "You should have seen her."

"I can imagine. That little thing doesn't deserve the highest rank."

"I agree. Naturally, after that all happened, I figured the best way to gain their trust was to team up with Chat. And, of course, toy with little Ladybug at the same time."

"Extraordinary." Spice says, and stands, stretching her arms. "That was a good workout. That little Kitty was _really_ fun to play with huh?" Her words snag in my head on the nickname.

For some reason, hearing someone other than me say it makes me want to rip their eyes out. "Don't call him that." I warn, and speak without meaning to. She glances up at me.

"Oh? And why not?"

"Just don't." I try to brush it off, but she steps closer to me.

"Developing a soft spot for the Kitty-cat, huh?" She muses, and the weight of her words burdens me. She is suggesting I'm betraying my family. _That witch…_ I flick my whip back out, and she watches it uncurl. "Really, Honey?"

"Really."

"Ah, well, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this." She says, drawing out all the daggers she had collected.

"Well, we can't always expect to get what we hope for." I reply smarmily.

Before I know it, she pivots, and flings a dagger to the opposite side of the building. It imbeds into the wall, and I realise there is a small string attached to the dagger and to her belt. Shit. She had moved to that rock because she knew it was a good vantage point to scope out where to escape from.

I rear my whip, and throw my hand forward, flicking my fingers to send it that inch further. My whip slices through her thigh as she flings away, leaving her hissing.

"You'll end up paying for that, bitch." She shoots at me.

She leaves me standing in the middle of the ruin, staring after an empty space. In the end, that little civilian had saved Chat's life. Even if I still didn't like how idiotic she was, throwing herself in front of some random person they've never met before, possibly giving up their own life to save another. That was stupid.

And even though I hated her already, I thanked her for being there for the moment I had my back turned on Spice. That _bitch_ was never really a proper partner. Never a friend. That's why when I heard _she_ was the one who called us I wanted to know what happened. She must have known I would be there, too.

Whatever the reason, The Master was sending people to come check on me. I need to keep my head in the game.

*Marinette POV*

"Okay, you're good, right? You're fine, aren't you?" Chat comments, but it wasn't directly at me. He was asking himself if I was alright, I thought. I tell him I'm fine anyway.

He starts to run directly to my house, expertly navigating through the busy streets, staying well away from the light of the street lamps that just turned on. "Oi, stay with me. Hey, hey, hey." He calls, as my eyes start to close. "What's your full name?" he questions, to try and keep me awake.

"Marnetedupanchng…" I mumble.

"Say it louder." He orders.

"Marinette. Dupain-Cheng." I pause halfway through to take a breath.

"That's a nice name. Did your parents happen to own a bakery?"

I smile. "Yeah… The Dupain-Cheng bakery." Memories of how my mother would smile at me whenever I got icing sugar on my face flashed through my mind. The way my father would sneak sweets and pastries to me before school started to give my friends. The tinkle of the bell on the door ringing whenever a customer came in, a signal for everyone in the room to put on their happiest smile.

I can hear Chat's voice ringing through my ears for me to wake up, but blackness creeps into my vision. Soon I'm overwhelmed by it, and it swallows me up.


	6. Chapter 6- Who are you

**Chapter 6**

I wake in my own bedroom, and with ringing in my ears. I sit up instantly, an action I completely, and utterly, regret. A searing pain shoots up my side, and I clutch my stomach and double over, moaning into the bedsheets.

I look up, and see a face. It's actually a very familiar face. Then my eyes finally focus on it, and his name comes out of my mouth. "Chat." He frowns.

"How do you know my name?" He is so serious, it's almost heart beaking. Chat had always been flirtatious and, well, fun. Around Ladybug anyway.

"I heard that woman in the orange suit call it." I answer honestly, quickly figuring out an escape route.

That's when I realize, if Chats here, then what I remember can't be a dream. I widen my eyes and throw the sheets off me, looking at my stomach. The blade is gone, but there's about seven large stitches covering the hole instead. "Holy mother of God…" I whisper, starting to realise just how deep the shit I had gotten myself into was.

"You could say that again." Chat says, his voice stern, with no emotions. "Why were you there?" He asks.

I hesitate. I wonder for a moment if I should say something like 'I can't remember why' or 'where's "there"' but decide against it.

"I saw you and your… Partner, going somewhere, and decided to follow you." It was a half-truth at least.

"Well then." He says, obviously not convinced, as he crosses his arms and stands up straight in the middle of the room. "Why on this Earth did you take the dagger for me?" He lets up his stern façade, and I can hear regret and annoyance in his voice.

"I… I don't know." That was a half-truth too. I knew why I wanted to do it, but it wasn't my conscious thoughts that had controlled the way I had blindly ran to him.

He stares at me for a long time, before letting up. "Fine. I wanted to see you wake up, that's all." He says, crossing the room to the window.

"Wait." I say, catching his arm as he passes by me. He stops, with his back to me, as if he doesn't want to see my face.

"What." He whispers softly.

"Did you change my clothes?" I ask suddenly. He sputters, clearly not expecting it. He regains composure.

"Yes, I had to throw away those other clothes, they were completely soaked through with your blood."

"Then did you give me a bath or something?" I ask again, not feeling at all embarrassed. He falters.

"I-I had to. Your- you were- the blood- it was- I just cleaned it up- I tried not to look-" He stammers, turning to me, his face pink.

I cut him off with a soft chuckle. "It's okay. I just wanted to make sure you hadn't taken me to a hospital or something."

He frowns. "Why?"

"Well, no offence, but I would rather there be no public record of me being involved with… Whatever it is you and your friends do." I say, in absolute truth.

"Ah. Makes sense, I guess." He replies. I realise I haven't let go of his hand, and he does too. "Did you need something else?" He asks.

"No, I just…" I don't know. "I want company?" I question. He cocks his head to the side, but nods understandingly.

"Did you want me to get you a glass of water or something?" He asks. I nod, realising how dry my throat is.

I'm surprised to see him walk off, directly towards the kitchen. I try to look around the room. Only now do I notice just how messy the place looks, as if someone was rushing through my stuff like a maniac. Chat comes back in, holding the glass, noticing my line of sight.

"Ah, sorry about the mess. I didn't know where to find your first aid kit. To be honest, I was so grateful that you actually had one with the right gear in it, I almost fainted myself." He jokes. "You know, most people don't normally have the full set, like you do." He states questioningly.

"Oh, yeah." I agree. "I am _really_ clumsy. I just… Thought it would be better if I had the real deal, in case I had to deal with something myself, you know? Better safe than sorry." I say, and reach for the glass as he hands it to me.

"Fair enough." He says, turning to the pictures I had on my shelves. "And who are these people?" He asks politely, and I notice he is expertly directing the conversation away, like he is used to lots of people talking to him at once, and used to having to navigate around topics of conversation over and over.

"The ones on the top left are my best friends. Alya and Nino. They recently got engaged, but they started dating way back in high school. Insane right?" I tell him, and he inspects the couple on my shelf closely.

"I remember taking those photos of the two of them back when they started dating, while we were out getting ice cream at the new place one afternoon. Alya had spilled hers telling a rather dramatic story, and Nino had teased her mercilessly about it." I start to get lost in the story, remembering, and stare off into space. "So she grabbed a handful of his ice cream and smudged it all over his face. Soon I joined in as well, and we had an ice-cream off. But after a while I had taken out my phone and sneakily taken pictures of them, capturing their full blown smiles on camera." I say, smiling, and I refocus my vision to find Chat looking over my shoulder at me, grinning slightly.

I blink a few times before looking away. The smile. It's way too familiar. He notices my discomfort, and looks at the next set of photos. "Are these your parents?"

We continue on, him asking about each of the photos and where they were from, and before I know it he's sitting next to me, and we're telling stories back and forth. After a while, we both laugh at a story about him and his best friend in kindergarten getting into trouble for putting caterpillars in a girl's lunch box, and after we finish laughing, we both fall silent.

"Marinette?" He asks, suddenly solemn, and not looking me in the eye.

"Yes?" I ask, noticing the time on my clock. 9:50pm.

"Why are you… Why are you so comfortable?" He asks, strangely.

"What do you mean?" I ask, but I think I understand his meaning.

"I mean, why haven't you sent me away? Or asked me… What _I_ was doing there. Or what I do?" He asks, staring downwards, looking like a lost kitten. I feel a wince of pain shoot up my side as I sit up, and reach over to him.

I place a hand on his face, guiding his eyes to meet mine. "Would it change anything?" I ask sincerely, and I notice his eyes again, toxic green, neon and glowing behind the blackness of his leather mask. This touch reminds me so much of the touch we shared atop the Eiffel Tower. No romance, no outside motives, just, honesty. Truth. Trust.

He looks back at me, and I start to notice our proximity, and find it somehow suffocating. _Why?_

He seems to notice the way I start to breathe too heavily, and soon he has me on my balcony, saying I should get some fresh air outside in the moonlight. But it's too cold, so he brings me a blanket.

Soon, I'm snuggled into my chair, the wind making my cheeks and the tips of my ears turn pink. I sniffle, and he offers to get me a hot chocolate. I laugh. "Chat, you've made yourself very at home here, haven't you?"

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that." He says sheepishly. "I uh, I guess I got really acquainted with the place while I was searching for the first aid kit."

"Don't apologise! You saved my life." I tell him.

"Yeah, but you saved mine first." He says back, in an unwavering tone.

"Hah. I guess I did." We fall into awkward silence, and I study his features. Soon I find myself studying his chest and arms, and lean, long legs too. He shifts uncomfortably, and I realize he had seen me studying him.

"Sorry." I say, turning away quickly. "I, uh, wanted to make sure you weren't hurt, either. That chick, she was really fast, wasn't she?" I stumble slightly.

"Yeah." He responds.

"Who was she?" I ask, because Marinette doesn't know. Only Ladybug. And even _she_ wasn't supposed to know.

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you." He says awkwardly. We fall into silence again, but its cut off by the sound of another sniffle from me. It's _really_ cold or something. Or maybe I just have a cold, because my nose is _really_ runny.

"Woah. Hey, here." Chat says, and soon, he's shifted us, so now we're both on the stretcher, his body resting against the back rest with me sitting in between his legs, my head on his chest. The blanket covers both of us, and I shift into his warmth.

"You're like a little heater, huh?" I ask, slightly ashamed of our positioning, but mature enough not to get flustered over it. There was a time when I would be uncomfortable with this, or completely red faced, but now, I don't think many things can make me embarrassed.

"That's actually the first time I've been told that." He laughs.

"Really? I though a guy like you would have no trouble finding girls to comment on your body warmth." I tease. He doesn't respond, and his muscles start to tighten beneath me.

"Oh, I'm uh, sorry." I say awkwardly.

"No it's… Fine. I just, I never really… Touch people. Or really, talk with people, outside of my job, that is."

"Oh." _'touch people'?_

"Well, that's a lie, I talk with _a lot_ of people. I just, don't talk with people I'm comfortable with very often." He amends.

"Oh." I repeat. After a moment of silence, I ask, "Why?"

"Well, since, uh, my mother died, I never really have felt comfortable with, well, anyone. You know?"

"Actually, I do." I respond, thinking of how many times I blew off peoples' birthday invitations, people asking me to see a movie with them, or even when guys asked me out. I just… Never wanted something like that.

I remember what he said. "And, I'm sorry your mother died." I say quietly.

"It's not your fault." He says, and his muscles relax again. I realise that he has slid down the chair slightly, so now his breath shifts the little stray hairs behind my ear, brushing them across my neck, sending shivers through my body.

He takes this as a sign that I'm cold again, and wraps one arm delicately around my waist, lying it across my belly, and the other he lines up over my right arm, taking my delicate hand in his. Its intoxicating, and his body warmth is overwhelming against me.

"Listen, Chat." I say, twisting around, so now I'm staring his directly in the face. I realise turning around wasn't the best idea, as now our faces are so close together that our noses could brush against each other if we moved a millimetre.

"Uh." I begin awkwardly, moving away from him. I'm more then shocked when his head follows mine for an instant, as if there was a string connecting my nose to his, and he was being pulled closer as I moved away.

But he snaps out of his trance, and sits up straight. The angle I'm looking at him is painful for me, and the fresh wound howls. I gasp, and manoeuvre, turning so then my feet are tucked up under my butt, and I'm completely facing Chat again.

The blanket falls off, and I realise that I'm sitting directly in between his legs. I don't let it faze me though, and look him dead in the eye. "Chat." I begin.

"Yeah?"

"Who are you?"

We are left having a staring competition, blue meets green.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"I just can't, okay? It would put you in danger, too."

I look down. "How?" I ask, because Marinette isn't the assassin, completely aware that if someone wants to find out an assassins' identity, the first person they ask is the person they're the closest to. And judging by what Chat said, about not being comfortable with people, I seem like one of the close ones. Even though we literally 'just met'.

"Because. They would use you. Torture you. Just to get my name out of you."

"I would never tell whoever 'they are-"

"Like hell you wouldn't!" He interrupts abruptly. "You've never been beaten before have you?" He states, a terrifying calm settling into the air around them.

"And you have?" I question, quietly, slightly afraid of whatever answer he may have.

"Yes." He responds instantly, and my head snaps up like I have whiplash, meeting his stern, serious eyes. "My father." He continues, "He believed I would follow his wishes if I were beaten into submission."

My mouth dries up, and my jaw is slightly hanging open. "I… I'm…" But I don't know what I am in that moment.

"It's okay. Grab the blanket and sit back down, otherwise you'll break the stitches." He commands. I comply, not knowing what else to do. He veers completely away from that topic for the rest of the night.

We settle back to telling stories, and I tell him one about me being obsessed with a princess outfit in grade one.

"All the kids could play dress-ups at play time." I explain, "And my favourite one to wear was the princess outfit. I would fight other people to get it, and complain to the teacher when someone else took it. I don't know why, but the idea of being royalty was great to me as a child."

"What, like, the endless supply of servants and the pretty outfits and stuff?" Chat teases.

"No, it wasn't about that." I reply, furrowing my eyebrows, "I mean, that's probably what it was about to other kids, but no, not to me."

"What was it, then?"

"I think… I think to me it was about power."

"Power?"

"Yeah. Being a princess… It gave me power and control over people. I was such a small kid. I guess it made me feel important."

He nods, like he understands why an eight-year-old would have a power complex.

After a while, I must have fallen asleep, because I am roused when he places me into my bed again, and covers me with a blanket. "Goodnight, Princess." I smile at the nickname, and welcome the warmth of the mattress.

"Hey, is it okay if you stay home tomorrow for me? I'll come back and check on you tomorrow night if you want, but promise me you'll stay in bed, okay?"

"What if I'm hungry?" I ask, tired, slurring my words.

He chuckles. "Okay, you're allowed out of bed if you're hungry or anything."

I smile. "Okay."

He lingers. "Are you okay?" He asks. I notice that there's little room in the alcove my bed is slotted into, meaning he's forced to hunch over me, with an arm on either side of my head. "I mean, was it worth taking that dagger? For me? You've never met me before…" He finishes uncertainly.

I grab his shoulder. "It was worth it, Chat." I assure him, before exhaustion takes over, and I fall asleep the moment I turn on my side.


	7. Chapter 7- Promise me

**Chapter 7**

The next morning, I wake up, wincing at the pain of sitting upright. Fantastic. It looks like I really will be staying in bed the whole day. It's okay though, and I don't mind it.

After a while I get too hungry to stay there, and start to awkwardly clamber out of bed. I freshen the bandages around my middle, not at all freaking at the sight of the blood. I don't feel like taking a shower, so I just strip in front of the sink and wash under my arms with soap, groaning at the movements of my limbs.

I check around the house, and I'm surprised to see it so clean. Chat must have cleaned up after I fell asleep, I muse, and start to limp over to the I see a sticky note stuck onto the fridge, and read it with mild amusement.

 _Morning, Princess! (Get it because of the princess dress) Make sure you eat well!_

There was a little paw print and an arrow scribbled on it, pointing at the fridge door. I open it, and I almost gasp when I see a tall stack of pancakes sitting on a plate, with glad wrap over the top.

"Oh my God." I laugh, taking out the plate. There's maple syrup and cutlery waiting on the bench, along with some blueberries in a container next to the pancakes in the fridge.

How did he guess I liked blueberries with pancakes? I wonder, smiling the whole time I ate them. I realize he must have stayed here til the small hours of the morning, because the dishes were done, the kitchen was spotless, and he must have cooked the pancakes himself.

God, what's he trying to do?

*Adrien POV*

I'm seriously considering killing Volpina. Sure, I may have been spacing out, but did she have to kiss me on the cheek to try and get my attention back? I would have preferred many things, such as, getting stabbed through the eye, to getting kissed by Volpina.

"C'mon, wakey wakey Kitty!" She teases.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry." I try to stay polite.

"What were you thinking about?"

"That girl that jumped in front of the dagger yesterday." _What was the harm in telling her?_ I could have sworn I saw Volpina's face harden, but I could have been mistaken.

"Oh. That little thing? What happened to her?" She asked, disinterestedly.

"I got her some medical attention." I say, and decide its better off for Volpina not to know that I in fact bathed her and stitched her myself.

"Well, I hope she's okay, anyway!" She laughs, hooking her elbow through mine, getting away from the subject with little subtlety. Something about the action makes me sick in the stomach, but she just walks me around the office room we're in, like I'm some kind of trophy.

"Yeah. Me too." I respond sincerely.

Volpina and I get a beating from Master Fu about being sloppy with our attacks, and how we'll have to train more if we want to be a proper team. I take it all in, hearing his scrutiny like I used to hear my father's. Commands, orders, something there was no question about whether I would do it or not, it was a simple must. A have to. Because it was either that, or punishment.

*Marinette POV*

I'm full, and warm, and all my work is done for the day. I've vacuumed three times, and even dusted all my shelves. I sorted through all my old pictures in my photo album, and made a little memento wall, with strings and pictures hanging off them, each string with a different year in mind. I was thinking I could tell Chat about them – all the little stories.

He seemed to like my stories last night, anyway.

Chat. Why was everything I did now, suddenly coming closer and closer to revolving around him?

I think I understand. As Ladybug, we worked together effortlessly, taking on jobs, staying calm, figuring out situations together. We always knew each other's next move, always could tell how the other would react. But even while we were that close, as Ladybug, complete synchronism was the only thing I would be able to have with him.

As Marinette however, I can talk. There's no history, and he doesn't know about all the horrible things I've done to others. He doesn't think I know about what he's done, either. But even though I do know, talking to him, for some reason, is comforting.

I'm not at all afraid of him, and I don't care about what he did before. I care about who made him like this. I care about why he became like this. Not because I'm disgusted, but rather, I'm impressed.

He had an abusive father, his mother died when he was a child, he had little in the way of friends, and he managed to become one of the greatest and wisest people I've ever met.

Sure, he does bad things for the wrong reasons, but I do too. I barely have a scrap of reason compared to him.

Later that night, the little picture wall is completed. I have pictures of my whole class from middle school, taken in secret on a school trip where we weren't supposed to have phones. A few pictures of the little stray cat I took care of when I was a kid. A few silly selfies taken with all my best friends. A concert I went to with Alya and Nino. Some photos of my parents and I when I was about three, when I wore my first swimsuit.

All my memories, put on a few strings, and hung on a wall for the world to see.

It's about 8:30, and I start to wonder if Chat really is going to come. Maybe I was just dreaming? Or maybe I misheard him or something. My mind keeps wondering back to the pancakes, and I need to remember to tell him thanks.

I hear a rapping at my window, and I smile when he opens it from the outside. He's wearing different gloves today. Normally he wears the ones that have little metal claws stitched into the end, but tonight they're just plain black leather.

He sees my smile, and smiles back. "Good to see you, Princess. I trust you didn't get stabbed throughout the day?"

I laugh, but the action makes my stomach flare in pain. I wince, and he's over to me in a second, steadying me with a hand on my waist and a hand on the back of my neck. "Steady. Come on, let's sit you down in bed." I push his hands away, and shake my head.

"I wanna show you something first." I say, grinning. I lead him into the other room where the wall of memories is, and gesture grandly at them. "Do you like them? I did it today. I thought this way, I would be able to tell you more about me. Plus, when we started talking I realised I barely had any photos anywhere, so I wanted to put them up." I say, turning back to him to gauge his reaction.

"Woah." He says. And I realise it may have been too much. But from the way his face lights up when he smiles next, or the way he places his hand on his hips after that, I figure that it's okay. "These are really cute." He says.

I giggle. "Yeah, I agree. See that first one? That was when I was about four. I had this random obsession with cereal boxes, and every time one of them was empty I would use them to build things. Mainly castles."

"Ah, of course, because you were a princess." He smirks.

"But of course!" I offer, and bow to him theatrically, but immediately regret it again, because bending over is something that _really_ hurts. I throw my arms out to steady myself, because I feel the floor coming to meet me, but something black grabs onto me and lifts me off my feet.

"Hey! How long did you _actually_ stay in bed for today?" He asks.

"Uh…" I start cheekily, and grin. "I dunno!" I respond, very childlike, shrugging.

He shakes his head and clicks his tongue. "You know; you need to heal. It'll just get worse and worse if you keep working yourself."

"I know, I know. But you aren't _my dad_ , Chat." I realise talking about dads wasn't the best move with him, but he laughs as he lowers me onto the couch that sits viewing the photos on the strings.

He straightens and places his hands on his hips, sassiness showing in every way. "Well, _Purrincess_ ," he purrs, and I laugh out loud at his pun. "I don't think I'm your dad, but maybe I can be your protector for a little while, hm?" He jokes about it, not realising just how serious what he said was.

"Sure thing."

He smiles, and settles down onto the couch next to me, stretching out like a cat lazing in the sun.

I lean over to him, again feeling the cold from there being no blanket on the couch. I wrap my arms around his waist, and find my fingers digging into the hard muscles under his leather. It's strong, and for once in my life, I think I've finally found someone I can tell _everything_ to.

Even with Alya, I couldn't tell her all the things I've done. And It's hard to keep secrets from that girl.

But Chat… He is exactly like me. In every way. Sure, maybe he had a terrible childhood, but he can actually listen to the words coming out of my mouth. Not just judge me like other people do.

My fingers slide up his chest, and my head nestles into his neck. This is insane. He probably thinks I'm insane. He doesn't know how much I know about him. But he curves in to meet me nonetheless.

 _What does he want?_

I run a finger along his collarbone, and find myself wondering about how much I've been through with him. He doesn't even know that that was me.

 _No, what does he need?_

I take my head out of his neck, and twist up to him. He looks down at me, our faces again only inches apart. He takes his left hand and slides it up my side, delicately avoiding my wound, and his eyes wander down to my neck.

He stares at me, and I run both my hands up his arms, marvelling at their power. My eyes slide to the zipper that leads up to the edge of his suit at his neck, and I have to stop myself from undoing it.

So instead I take out my hair, and close my eyes, leaning backwards, to shake it out. When I open them again, I see his eyes. And they're glowing in the dim room. Hunger. That's the first word that springs to mind when I see them. He looks overcome with it.

So I lean in closer, knowing my eyes mirror his, but the wound on my side flares. It's painful, but I don't care.

But he stops. So I stop. "What?" I ask, breathing heavily, and my eyes drift to his lips.

"You're in pain." He says simply, but also breathlessly.

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are." He pulls away, and lifts me up as if I was some porcelain doll. "Don't hurt yourself."

"Yeah." I say, mumbling a sorry, as we separate from each other.

"C'mon. You should get in bed." He says quietly, like he was speaking to a child.

"Yeah." I repeat.

He slides a hand around my waist, helping me walk, and it's not fair. I just want to touch him. It's not his looks, or his eyes, or anything about his physical appearance (although those are nothing to scoff at), it's just because it's _him_. My partner.

He seems to forget about our proximity when he tucks me into bed, and heads out onto the balcony. "I'll be leaving, okay?" He says. "You're all good, right?"

I nod.

He starts to walk away, and I'm frozen with indecision. I should follow him. But what if he doesn't want to be followed? No. I saw his eyes. I can still read his eyes. So why did he stop us? Even in pain, I was able to push past it.

It's a split second decision that I make to follow him, and ignore the pain lancing up my chest all the way down my leg. He's walking to the other side of the balcony when I reach for his arm, and I notice something. He's shaking.

And I don't know what to do, because I see why he is.

He's crying.

Full blown, sobbing, messy and all over the place. He runs his hands through his hair, messing it up and strange angles. Tears stream down his face, and I can't do anything but hide myself behind a pillar. When he reaches the railing, he drops to the ground, kneeling, and covers his face with his hands. He lets out half way between a yell and a cry, muffled through his palms.

Why? Why was he crying?

He stopped all of a sudden, and starting speaking to himself, much in the same way I do sometimes when I think no-one can hear me, or when I can't decide on what to do.

"Hah. You're pathetic." He hiccups, and it takes me a moment to realise he's talking about himself and not me. "You're kneeling on the ground in a mess. And why is that?" He lets out a cruel laugh. "Because she reminds you of your mother, doesn't she?"

I cover my mouth with my hand to stop myself from breathing too heavily. He cannot know I'm here.

"She reminds you of her. That's why you can't be here. That's why _I_ can't be here. Because she'll get hurt because of me, and I'll lose her because of me."

He laughed again, his voice choking slightly. His voice lowers. "But I don't want to leave." He sobs. "I don't even know her. Why? Why do I want to stay with her? I don't..."

He got up, and wiped his face, the moonlight outlining his features. "I won't put you in any more danger." He says, about to take off.

I burst from behind the pillar, and spin him around forcefully, by grabbing his arm.

"Marinette? What are you-"

I slap him, hard, across the face. He rears back in shock, half because I probably have more strength than he expected, and half because he just wasn't expected being slapped tonight, probably.

His cheekbones are harder than they look, and my hand stings in response.

"You aren't getting rid of me that easily." I tell him, determined.

He stares back at me blankly, but slowly starts to realise I had heard what he said. "Um, I…" he begins.

"Don't." I tell him. "It's okay." And I wrap each arm around his neck, drawing his body down to mine. "It's okay." I whisper again, and he wraps his arms across my back, and pushes his face into my neck, much like I did before.

His body starts to tremble with tears again, and he sobs into the place my neck meets my shoulder. "Hey, no need. Tell me. Tell me why you're crying."

"I can't." He says, painfully. Painfully for both of us. He doesn't trust me, not while I'm just Marinette. I'm losing him. In both ways.

"Okay, okay." I tell him. "It's okay. You're here with me." I draw back, and rest my forehead against his. And I want him to understand. I want him to understand that even though he thinks I've only met him twice, that even though he thinks there was no reason behind me saving his life, that he's wrong. That no matter what happens, and who changes, I will always be the same person. So I look at his eyes, and take them in, and try to convey all of that in one look. I realise I need to say something. I need to say something to make sure he understands.

"I will always be here for you." I whisper, "Chat, I will always, always, be there. I'm not going to leave you. I won't get hurt." I tell him, "So promise me, Chat."

He sniffs. "Promise what?"

"Promise me you won't leave me, either." And the weight of the promise, the look in his eyes, consume me. He pauses to stare back at me with the same determined intensity I looked at him with before.

"I promise, Princess."

"Then I promise that too, Kitty."


	8. Chapter 8 - How's Pea?

After three days of sitting on my arse and feeling useless, I decide to reply to the overwhelming amount of text messages I've received from Alya, and succumb to her demands to go to lunch and pick out colours for the wedding plans.

I also choose to ignore some of the emails I've received from my teachers, asking about me and my 'wellbeing'. I hadn't come to class for what, five days, and already they're wondering if I'm dead in a ditch.

To be honest, I _was_ almost dead, but, not in a ditch.

Well. An emotional ditch for feeling useless.

Alya and I meet at the plaza, and grab a to-go cup of coffee as we stroll around the shopping centre. I have to hide the pain behind each step, and constantly find excuses to go to the bathroom.

"Ooohhh what about this one?" Alya giggles, grabbing my arm and dragging me into another store to look at some more dresses. Even though I find it rather boring, I go along with everything anyway, preferring to be in her good graces.

She ends up with a rather radicle plan; the bridesmaids and best man would wear all black, and the bride and groom would wear all white. She ordered me to do some sketches and rough designs, and told me she preferred my hand over any of the best designers in Paris.

I laugh. "You know I'm a college student. You've just offended some of the most successful people in the world of design."

"I don't care!" She exclaimed. "You're better than the greats, Mari!" She giggles, and raises her hands above her head to reinforce the 'greatness' of my talents. I flush at the looks of the people around us, hoping beyond hope that no-one I know is here.

"Shut it!" I hiss at her. She laughs at me and takes another sip of her coffee. It's then that my phone rings, and I pull my little red and black phone from my pocket. But that's not the one ringing.

I pull my _other_ phone out of my pocket, much to the amusement of Alya, making some snide comment about having two phones but getting me to come out of my room was a pain in the arse.

"Just a second." I say, and start to walk and lean against the side of the building around the corner. "Yes?" I say, removing any amusement I had lacing my voice from the day.

"The Gamer, your second partner, is dead." Tikki's voice drones, skipping any 'hello'. I stand in shock, unable to move or speak.

"Shall I repeat myself?" Tikki asks, not in a rude tone, more of an innocent one.

"No, it's good." I reply, breathlessly.

"Well, Master Fu wondered what you might know, Mari."

"Don't say my name here, Tikki." I reprimand.

"Sorry. But we really need to know if you've heard anything about it while benched, and just, never said anything."

"Why would I do that?"

"Well, we don't know. We're digging through chicken scratch here, and _any_ info is better than what we have now. They sent our best analysation unit to the body, and _nothing_ , not even a measly fingerprint, was found. They know the cause of death, though. Poisoning. Found some, blackish purple liquid found in the back of his throat."

"Jesus…"

"Yeah."

"What is Master planning to do?" I ask, running a hand over my face.

"Nothing. Not yet, anyway. He said if there is another then he'll investigate it further, but he said it may have just been some fluke. I'm not convinced, though."

"No, neither am I."

"Call me if you hear anything, Ladybug."

She hangs up, again skipping formalities, and I run back over to Alya.

"Girl, who was that?"

"Just someone from work."

We talk and I try my hardest to forget about it, but the moment I do, something else (I don't know what it was) reminds me of the innocent smile The Gamer wore the day I met him. The childish grin, the playful remarks, the encouraging words after each and every job.

Because even though we barely talked, even though we barely knew each other, he was still a part of my family.

When I receive word the next day from Tikki about another victim, I almost puke. She tells me it was Stormy Weather, and that there were a few more clues about this case.

I'm scared shit-less. I was back out there, but I was without my partner, with and injury, and against an enemy we hadn't even seen before.

Well, technically, I wasn't _really_ back out there. I was still benched.

When I went in the next day, people were busying themselves with documents, someone would yell to someone else across the room, and as I passed Storm's and Game's offices, I shuddered. Their names had been scratched carelessly from the doorframe. As if simply rubbing them off would make them disappear.

Pretty soon the leather on my suit was hot and irritating.

"Ladybug." Master Fu's voice came from behind me, and I whirl to meet his unyielding stare. He had to look up at me, but, damn. This man could intimidate the president.

"Hey, short stuff." I tease.

"You call me that again and you and I are gonna do some sparring." He replies, turning and walking away, simply expecting me to follow him.

Of course, I do, but it makes me uncomfortable at how easily he can make me do whatever he wants with one hard glance.

We walk towards the meeting room, and just like the last time I was here, I arrive last, but this time, there are two less people, and the newest member was sitting in my old seat. I try not to look in her direction, but Volpina has a way of smirking that makes me want to smack her.

It pains me to sit so far away from Chat, especially when he's not actually sitting, he's leaning against the wall again, but I feel his steady gaze putting me at ease.

We get on with the meeting the moment I'm seated right at the end of the table, mandatory for people who just got off desk duty.

"Assassins." Master starts, and slaps a heavy folder onto the table. "We have a problem." He states. Everyone seems to murmur in agreement. "You have been told of two of the cases involving the dead assassins from Miraculous. Stormy Weather, and The Gamer." He drills, not speaking with much particular emotion. "But we have received word of another assassination." My ears start ringing.

 _Another one?_

"We thought that the people killing them weren't going to leave us any messages to who or what they were, or give us any clues to their intentions." He begins."It turns out, our latest killing also came with a note."

Suddenly, the projector screen lit up and brightened the room, casting an eerie glow over everyone's faces. Images appeared. Disgusting, revolting, gut-churning images flicked over the screen. The first couple were of a body – mangled enough that their features were no longer recognisable, brutal and slow.

But I knew who it was. It was Stone Heart. One of my dearest first partners at Miraculous. I could see the grey and black suit, blood drying on the pathway underneath his large body. It must have been a dark alleyway of some kind.

I grit my teeth so hard they might break, and my hands ball into fists so tight the knuckles turn white. Stormy and Gamer were one thing. Friends, dear comrades. But my first partner?

"This is the message." He says, and his assistant, Wayzz, clicks something to make it change images again.

The gruesome picture zoomed away, and another one took its place. Words, written in a deep red, along a wall in the alleyway.

'So, Master Fu. How's Pea doing?'


	9. Chapter 9- A Debt to Pay

'So, Master Fu. How's Pea doing?'

A simple, familiarised message, meant for someone with a long history and understanding of the person they were talking to.

A message sent directly to Master Fu. By whoever did _this_.

"Listen to me." Master Fu begins. "Hear what this means, then you are allowed to pass judgment." He says, looking like he was holding very tight reins on his guilt.

"What the hell is this." Chat Noir comes up with. I'm almost surprised to hear his voice – he never would have raised an argument against Master Fu before.

"Listen, Chat." Master strains.

"Why should I?" He starts trembling with rage, and I seem to come out of my state of shock I hadn't realised I had entered. "Why should any of us listen to you?" He continues. "How do we know you aren't working with whoever did that?" He points a finger at the image. "With whoever wrote that message to you on the wall." His teeth clench together. "In our friend's blood." His words hum with barely contained rage, and his fingers twitch at his side, eager to inflict pain.

"Chat, you need to hear me out." Master Fu mumbles, and for a moment, a brief moment, it sounded as if he was begging.

"And if I refuse to?" He questions, and takes an offensive stance, altering his demeanour entirely.

"Then I won't even bother fighting back. You can kill me, and I won't put up a fight."

Chat seethes. "Why?"

"Because after all the things I've done; I'd say I rather deserve it." He says plainly, complete honesty and brutal truth in every word.

Chat stays in defensive mode, and the people around him back away. _Wise._

But, he seems to get his anger under control, and stands up straighter, walking closer to Master Fu.

"Tell us what happened." He orders, and narrows his eyes at his superior. Master Fu nods.

"I will." He sits down, and closes his eyes, Chat still standing over him. In a way, to me, it makes Master Fu look like he's _submitting_ to him.

"She was our partner. We worked together, all three of us." He begins.

"Who's 'she' and who's 'we'?" Volpina asks, suddenly interested.

"The person in the message. Her assassin name was Peacock. But, we were friends. So, we called her Pea." He looks at his hands. "We – He. He didn't know."

"Know what?" I ask, at the same time Volpina says, "Who's 'he'?"

He seems to draw a breath of courage. "His name was Hawkmoth. His assassin name, anyway. And… He didn't know… They. They didn't know I loved her, too."

 _Oh._

"She… Was amazing. She took out all her targets. Never letting one escape. She was brutal and vicious completing an assignment, but she was exactly the same as she was before she had become one of us when she wasn't."

Chat coughs, "That didn't make sense."

I glare at him half-heartedly. "He means, unlike people who are weak, her personality never changed after going through something this traumatising."

The room is silent, and everyone's eyes widen before looking at the ground. It's a well-known fact that people in this line never are fully emotionally 'all right', but no-one is ever very open about it.

"Yes, that's what I meant." Master continues, "When Pea and Hawk got together, I was happy for the both of them. They had a son, and got married, living together in harmony with their work. I fell into a depression, never quite being back to normal.

"You poor thing." Someone says, though, their voice is too low for me to discern who it was.

"I'm not finished."

"Oh."

"One day… I told Hawkmoth just how much I felt for her. He… He took it as a threat, and became extremely over-protective of her. Unfortunately for timing, after that, Pea and I became partners. I guess the people at Miraculous weren't too happy with the thought of two lovers being assigned the same mission, in case one of them was captured, or whatnot, so they never let Pea and Hawk go on missions together."

There were many nods of understanding from the assassins.

"Well, we were given one of the hardest targets. A drug-lord owning half the city, fully equipped with maxed-out body guards and assassins of his own, all trained to kill. But we were on a roll, having completed all our previous missions assigned with each other in record time, and never asked for additional help. We attacked at midnight, when it was overcast and impossible to see us coming." He visibly gulps.

"But, they did." I guess, quietly, "They did see you coming, didn't they?" I repeat, after a long pause.

"Yes." He nods, almost whispering now, "Yes they did. They came from nowhere and everywhere, attacking all at once. We… We barely had time to react. I pressed my alarm to call the rest of Miraculous to send re-enforcements. When a gun went off…"

There was a long silence, and Master Fu clenched his fists. "When the gun went off, she… she moved in front of the bullet."

Murmurs shut out, people stopped whispering, thoughts the only things rushing around the room.

"Then… Did she die?" one asks.

"Not quite just then. She took the bullet for me, and was just… Lying there. I went on a rage, my emotions taking over, blood and faces all I could see. All of them…"

 _"Fu…" She murmured, "All of them… You killed all of them." Her head was turning side to side, wincing every time it moved too far. Her blonde curls were spilling over her shoulder so delicately, only this time it was mixed with crimson._

 _"Peacock, please, stop, don't talk."_

 _"How did you kill all of them?" She was dazed, asking random questions, surveying the littering of bodies either side of them._

 _"Pea, please…" He put his arms around her shoulders, lifting her slim torso onto his lap. "Pea, stay here, stay with me."_

 _"Where's Hawk? Is he here?"_

 _"No, no, Hawk isn't here." He responds, allowing her to talk._

 _"Where is he? Why isn't he here yet?" She sounded like a child lost at the shops, asking a stranger where her parents were._

 _Blood was pooling underneath her body, and he whimpered at the sight, his hands were shaking, his muscles were burning._

 _"He's coming, come on, stay with me until he arrives, okay?" Tears were blurring his vision, and her blood starting sticking to his hands, soaking into his clothes. He pressed the re-enforcements button again, and showed her as he did. "See? He's coming soon, just wait with me, okay?"_

 _It hurt. It hurt that she wanted to be comforted by Hawk and not him. Why? Why couldn't she have loved him, instead… Why…_

 _"Fu? Can you take off your mask?" She suddenly whispers, her eyes regaining focus to lock onto his._

 _"Peacock, please–"_

 _"Just for a second, please." He twisted his face into a sorrowful expression, looking directly into her eyes. They shone with a toxic green, so much feeling behind such a convincing carefree bravado. Her eyes… He had fallen in love with her eyes first._

 _"Please…" she repeated._

 _"Okay."_

 _He peeled away his mask, leaving a streak of blood across his brow. He looked down at his hands, and saw his mask stained in it. Not just her blood, the blood of their target, the person they were assigned to kill._

 _And the blood of the people who weren't supposed to die._

 _"You look so sad." She smiled, reaching up to him, "Don't be so sad."_

 _"Just, stay with me, stay with me, please." He pressed his face into her shoulder when tears started dripping from his eyes._

 _"I want to… Trust me, I do…" She couldn't reach her arms up to comfort him._

 _"I do trust you…" He whispered, and she started shaking. He realised she was crying too._

 _Suddenly, she pulled back as much as she could manage, looking at him kindly. "Take care of my son for me." She was quiet, all the brightness in her eyes dissipated._

 _She was giving up._

 _"Pea, no you're staying here, you can take care of him yourself." He refused. She shook her head, and cupped his cheek with her hands, smiling again._

 _"Teach him to fight. Teach him to stand up for himself. Teach him to be just like you, Fu… Teach my little Adrien…" Her eyes started drooping, her smile fading._

In real time, as he said that name, Chat Noir tensed so much that his tendons threatened to snap. His eyes widened so far they started to dry out, and Master Fu locked eyes with him, continuing his story regardless of the recognition in both of their eyes.

 _"PEA!" He screamed, and shook her, "NO! Stop please, stay with me!"_

 _"Fu, promise me."_

 _"No! You're going to live c'mon–" He started to try and lift her up, only making her scream when her wound started to split._

 _"Fu, please, you have to promise." She whimpered._

 _And he looked down to see her, eyes welling with tears, lips fading and pulled into a vague attempt of a smile. He gave up, and sagged against her limp body, clutching onto her like a lifeline._

 _"Okay, I promise." He sobbed, his face buried in her hair. "I promise."_

 _"Thank you, Fu."_

 _They stayed like that for a while, Fu sobbing and shaking, Peacock slowly fading._

 _"Fu?" She whispered._

 _"What, what is it?"_

 _"I… I don't want to die."_

 _"What?" He asked, hearing her, but in shock._

 _"I have so much I want to do… I really don't want to die."_

 **A/N:**

These next few chapters are really confusing for us to write (they're going to be a bit shorter than usual, too), we aren't exactly experienced or anything, and plotlines sometimes just vanish. We already have kind of a way we want to finish this, and there will be more about the _actual storyline_ more often, the shipping stuff comes later on.

We are open for suggestions though! Feel free to just tell us whatever you want about our story, comments actually help us out heaps! Oh, and if you find any grammatical errors, feel free to point them out too!

'Til next time~


	10. Chapter 10- Always the Eyes

"She told me to take care of her son. And I kept that promise, I helped her son become one of the bravest men I've ever known."

The room was completely still, everyone waiting for the drop of the hammer. No-one noticed Chat standing stiff as a board, no-one. Except me. I watched him in the silence, not exactly out of curiosity.

No.

Out of _fear._

Throughout the story he had gained such an immense sense of bloodlust I barely knew if anyone would be able to stop him if he unleashed it soon.

Maybe not all of us combined.

"Hawkmoth blamed you, didn't he?" I suddenly ask, trying to change my line of concentration, and hopefully his too, "Reinforcements." I clarify. "You called for them, but all the re-enforcements, including Hawmoth, were too late to save her. He blamed you for her death, and…" I wasn't sure where I was going.

"And forgot about his son." Chat suddenly spoke, his eyes were completely emotionless, something I'd never seen before. All his bloodlust was dissipated into something much more frightening.

A cold, hard, emotionless stare.

"He forgot about his son, and became hell-bent on revenge. He neglected everyone around him, and decided to start The Akumas." Chat was speaking directly to him, as if he had some reason for Master Fu to hide something. "Then you trained his and Peacocks son to be an assassin." He concluded.

Master Fu looked at Chat in the eye, and they seemed to share a look with some hidden meaning.

 _What's going on?_

"Yes, that is what happened."

"Then this is his revenge?" someone pipes up, "This is his way of getting back at you, of destroying Miraculous by killing the members one by one."

I understand. "He wasn't able to save the person he cared most for." I begin, glancing back to Master Fu, "Now you aren't able to save the ones most important to you."

Master grits his teeth, and his eyes glaze over.

"Yes." He spits.

"Then this is your fault?" Chat whispers, dangerously. He said 'your fault' like he meant more than just the deaths of our members, of our friends. He meant something more. "It's your fault." He said, staring directly at him.

Master Fu winces, but holds his gaze. "Yes, Chat." He says, "It's my fault."

Chat suddenly started moving, and before we knew it he was making his way out the door, closing it behind him. After he left, Fu leaned back into his chair, rubbing his face.

It was silent, until he finally said, "We need to take the fight to them."

Fu assigned me to trace The Akumas and where their main HQ was, speaking only to me after sending everyone out of the room with separate missions.

He then told me to find the base alone. _And_ my priority is killing their leader. Now known as Hawkmoth.

 _Alone._ _Without a partner, he expects me to do this._

At first, I was honoured, then I realised just how much he was screwing me over. Alone, I was worthless. I needed my partner back, but just then, he was partners with another. And I wasn't allowed to fight for him.

 _He has a partner._

 _I guess I'll have to go it alone._

 _What could happen._

*Chat POV*

I walked directly to the roof. I wasn't sure why the roof had always been my first place to go after finding out something horrible.

Actually, it was exactly what I did when the news of my mother's death first reached me.

 _"I'm… I'm so sorry."_

 _"Who are you?" I asked, retreating a few steps. A man had walked into the house on the afternoon my mother was supposed to come home early for Christmas, so she could prepare the food._

 _I had waited three hours at the front door, waiting for her to come home, sitting alone in the rain._

 _"Who are you?!" I scream, not knowing what else to say. "Where's my mum!?"_

 _"I'm a police officer." He strained. "She's… She's dead, kid."_

 _I shook my head. This wasn't happening. It can't have been. "She isn't dead! How would you know, anyway?"_

 _"It… It was a car accident. She was driving home when another car came from the intersection–"_

 _"No! You're lying!"_

 _"Listen, kid, I'm sorry, it's true–"_

 _"No!" I yelled, sprinting away. I ran up the steps to the second floor. Then the third floor, then the fourth, until I reached the roof._

 _The run left my muscles burning, my lungs pounding. As I stepped out, I saw it was still raining. The platform up here wasn't really designed to be walked on, but after a long fight between my parents and I, they had agreed to make a safe spot for me to walk around on up there._

 _It was a large rectangle, with fences around the edges and cold concrete as a floor. It was grey, dull, and just an empty space, but to me, it was an escape._

 _I always used to come here to play, or to hide when I would fight with my mother or father._

 _As I set foot outside, the torrential rain soaked my clothes in an instant, sliding down my pale skin and sending me into a fit of shivering._

 _As I walked further out, tears started mixing with the drops running down my cheeks. I screamed. I screamed with such emotion that looking back I was surprised the world didn't scream with me._

 _Then I kept screaming._

 _When I stopped, I somehow ended up kneeling in the water collecting there. I was bent at the knees, my hands splayed out against the ground, my reflection staring up at me._

 _I watched my vision cloud through my tears, then focus again as the tears fell to the ground, and rippled my image in the water._

 _Suddenly, the rain stopped falling on me, and something touched my shoulder. Too tired to be shocked, I simply looked up at the man now standing behind me with a large, black umbrella shielding the both of us._

 _I didn't have to look that far up, he was pretty short, and about my dad's age, maybe older._

 _"You'll catch a cold out here, little one." He said with a wrinkled smile. Okay, older._

 _"Who are you?" I sniffed._

 _"I was your mothers friend."_

 _"You're lying."_

 _"How so?"_

 _"If you were her friend, you would have saved her!"_

"I knew you'd be up here." Master Fu's voice comes from behind. I turn my head slightly, not quite turning around.

It's almost night time, and the building our headquarters were located under had a pretty good view of the city at night.

The Eiffel Tower was glistening, a gigantic beacon of pride for all the occupants of the city. Now, it represented someone who I cared for far too deeply, and our meeting at its peak.

"Leave me, Master. I can't see you right now."

"Why is that?"

"If I do, I'll probably kill you."

"Fair enough, too." He responds casually.

This time, I do turn around, and I understand from the look on his face everything he's trying to do and say.

 _I'm sorry. I'm sorry._ His eyes emanate the words.

"I'm sorry." He says, finally.

"You bloody well should be."

"I know."

We stand in silence for a little while, simply _looking_ at each other. Master looks tired. Overwhelmingly tired.

"Master, why are you standing here with me?"

"Because you just found out. And the only other person here that could possibly comfort you is on her mission already."

I snap my head up. "Ladybug is on a mission? Alone? What for?"

He lowers his eyes, not caring I knew that she was the one he was talking about. "I put her onto finding the location of The Akumas."

"WHAT?" I explode, "Are you insane? You're making her find them by herself? What's wrong with you?! She'll be killed!"

"She's the best here, Chat, and you and I both know that she can barely work with anyone aside from you–"

"Exactly! Put us back together!"

"It's not that easy, Chat–"

"Like hell it isn't! You're making her do something impossible all on her own! All because of me, isn't it?"

"What? Chat, I never put her on this case because of you–"

"I'll rephrase it for you." I clench my teeth. "Ladybug was benched because of a failed assignment that _I_ caused. She was put off duty, our _number one_ , and replaced by that annoying bitch, because _I failed to show_. After that, this all happened, and you get scared shit-less and put her back out, realising her partner is partnered up with someone else."

He narrows his eyes, and fists his hands.

"Chat. No, _Adrien._ " I wince at his words, but he continues, "I trained you both together. I picked you because you were _wise,_ and _capable._ "

"Wise and capable my ass. You trained me because you were a coward running away from your mistakes, trying to cover up the guilt you felt for letting my mother SACRIFICE HERSELF FOR YOUR MISERABLE LIFE!" I'm screaming now, and my arms, my legs, all the muscles in my body were wanting to rip out this man's throat.

"Yes, Chat. I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. Because I killed her. I was the reason she died."

We fall silent.

We stare.

I simmer with rage, bursting at the seams.

He shrinks with the pain of remembering, but regains some courage before he says, "You love her, don't you? Ladybug, I mean."

"What does that have to do with anything."

"It's a simple question."

"Is it a necessary one?"

"For the question I'm going to ask after that, yes. Depending on your response."

I hesitate, but reply. "Yes. I am."

"Then would you die for her?" He immediately says.

I reel away, and suddenly I have no idea where he's going with this. "What?" I breathe.

"Answer the question." He is very stern.

I stop, and think. I try to imagine a situation in which my life doesn't involve her. I try to imagine a possible future, whether it be far or soon, with her not somewhere there. It isn't there. She's always in there, somewhere.

A normal life. Without killing? _She's my best friend._

Retiring after working to the point of physical exhaustion? _She's retiring with me._

Completing our next assignment, arguing with Master Fu, taking on anything larger than ourselves, _she's there, she's there, she's there._

No matter if the future is tomorrow or far into years beyond, she's there.

 _Living with me? Falling for me? Those were simply fantasies._

 _But staying with me?_

 _That was always planned._

Then, I imagine letting her live after my death. She never reciprocated my feelings, or at least, not in the same way. I imagine giving up my entire existence to save hers, and I have my answer.

It's so simple.

It's so true, I had just never considered it before. A life where she wasn't in it wasn't a possibility for me.

"Yes."

"Excuse me?" He seems shocked, or at least, disappointed.

"I said, yes. I would die if it meant that she lived." It's a complete certainty.

He pauses, then says, "Then, you are not allowed to be her partner. Not now, never again."

My eyes widen, my fists clench, my teeth grind together. "Why?" I blurt.

"I swore to protect you, Adrien. I swore it as I watched your mother die in my arms. You are not allowed to throw your life away the same way she did." He straightens. "To protect someone."

"This wouldn't be the same way." I realise.

"And why is that?"

"Because I love her _romantically._ My mother _never_ loved you like that."

Master stares at me in shock, and stumbles over his next words.

"That's–"

"True." I continue, "That's true, isn't it? She didn't love you the same way you loved her."

We have another ridiculously meaningful silence to share, and the tension becomes thick. I start to walk away, and brush past his shoulder, not making eye contact with the older man.

 _Before anything else is said._

He doesn't attempt to stop me, either, until I get to the doorway, and he calls out to me.

"Can I ask you one more thing?"

"No."

"Chat, please."

"No."

" _Adrien_."

I halt. "What." I spit.

"What part of her did you fall in love with first?" He asks. Of course, with my mind in the gutter, it immediately goes to _that._

"Eh? What, that's a bit gross, even for you old geeser–"

He chuckles dryly, cutting me off. "No, I didn't mean it that way."

"Then how?" I wonder, still not understanding which direction he wanted this to go.

"I meant, what is it that she possessed, whether it be a trait, or a physical characteristic in a non-explicit way, that first drew you in?"

I think hard, and decide.

"Her eyes."

He raises an eyebrow, and his lips raise slightly on the corners. "Why is that?"

"She looks like she's hiding something."

"You like her because you think she looks like she's lying?"

"No, no, not hiding something like that." I shake my head, "I meant it in another way."

"How?"

"I mean, we've done… things. Horrible things, all the time. And she stores it all in her eyes."

"Stores it?"

"Yes. All her regretted actions. She has this beautiful wall of iridescent blue, and throws all these terrible secrets behind them. Her eyes… they sparkle when she's excited, they dull when she kills, they glow when she's terrified. They reflect everything that she is, including all her awful parts. Actually, she doesn't seem to try and… hide them, per say." I rephrase my original statement, shaking my head, "She simply carries them in a way that makes me realise she knows she has no other choice but to carry them, and reveals them only when necessary. Its… awe inspiring. But at the same time, it's a challenge. It's a dare, like she wants someone to break down that wall. I'm not going to stop to find out."

He seems to relax. His shoulders lose tension, his face slackens into a lazy and half-arsed grin, his thumbs hook into his belt loops.

"I fell in love with her eyes, first." I conclude, slightly bashful at my rant, but not in any way showing it.

"Okay." He says, and turns away from me. As if I passed some kind of test.

As I walk away, I realise something.

 _"I'm not going to stop to find out."? Isn't that exactly what I thought when I went on that date…?_

 _With Marinette…?_

 _Isn't that exactly the same thing I thought...?_

 _When I looked into_ her _blindingly iridescent blue eyes?_

 **A/N: Okay this is another chapter now, to make up for being douches before. Next chapter is also probably going to be published pretty soon, we're on a roll.**

 **Please give us some more suggestions! We're also dying to hear what you guys think of the story, so give us a comment about what you like and don't like, we'll try and fix it!**

 **'Til next time~**


	11. Chapter 11- Count the Minutes

**Chapter 11**

*Ladybug POV* (While the previous chapter was happening, this is what _she_ was doing)

I had to find help from _someone._ After Fu told me my mission, I went to the first person with access to all the files I had no clue how to find.

Nathanael.

Of course, his blind infatuation for me made talking slightly difficult, but after I managed to convey my situation in between his swoons over my talking to him, he seemed to change.

His body went rigid, his eyes became darker, his fingers flying furiously over his laptop.

"The Akumas. The Akumas, The Akumas, The Akumas…" He repeated, muttering, and eventually, he brought out a file. "Here's something."

I glance at his screen. It was a file from about thirty years ago, with a blurry image of the writing 'The Akumas' in black, a purple and futuristic outline of a butterfly or moth surrounding it.

"That's weird, and cool, but it doesn't tell me anything about their _secret base_." I say, frustrated.

What can I say? My days haven't really been all that great, lately. I'm a little grumpy.

"Uh, sorry, scroll down a bit…" he mumbles, and turns it back to himself, fiddling with the tracepad, before turning it back to me again. I almost gasp.

The writing was on the ground, next to a building with red bricks, and tall rooves. The college I go to. Or, an older version of it. It was missing the front office building, and the bricks now are painted grey and white, but I clearly recognise the tall, grand tree standing at its gate, the same overbearing thick branches blocking sunlight onto the pathway.

"Nathanael, I owe you one." I laugh, and draw him in for a hug before standing up, and walking out of my room.

 _Let's drop home to… prepare._

*Nathanael POV*

The moment she left my sight, the blush and smile I had forced onto my face fell away instantly, and turned my gaze to the bathrooms.

For the next half hour, I observed who went in and out. I stood and calmly walked over.

 _If what I saw was correct, there should be barely anyone in there now._

Drawing my phone from my pocket after discovering my observations were correct, I typed in its passcode. Clicking 'phone', the little device called the only number it was able to call, as it was built for that specific purpose.

To make contact with a person, without knowing what the number was.

It dialled once, twice, three times before being picked up.

"Ladybug. She's coming over to HQ." I say straight away.

"Explain." The voice growls.

"Well." I continue, gulping slightly, but standing my ground, "she asked me for help finding you guys. You know I'm not good at lying with words."

"So you told her where we are? What were you thinking?" The voice rages.

"Listen for a minute. Master Fu had sent her to find you by herself. She is not permitted to have any partners, I know, I was listening. So, I figured, if I sent her to you, then called you, you could all be waiting for her, that way she gets taken down easily." I whimper, blurting something I thought of two minutes prior.

The gruff voice goes silent, then grunts in acknowledgment. "Fair enough, good thinking."

"Thank you, sir."

"When do you suspect she will arrive?"

"Ah, in a few hours? She will want to gather supplies first, and maybe get into better suited clothing for sneaking into a base."

"Thank you, Nathanael. You have helped us greatly."

"You're welcome, Hawkmoth, and thank you."

He hangs up, and my gut starts to churn. I may have been pretending to like Ladybug at the start, but it was harder and harder to _not_ admire her as she continued working.

Ah, well, it's too late.

No-one knows where she's going–

"Oh, hey Nate." A voice says. It's Chat Noir, swaggering in with narcissistic pride. God, I hate him.

"Oh, hey Chat."

"Whatcha doing talking to yourself in here?"

"Nothing, I was just on the phone."

"Oh, okay then."

He lingers. "Uh, is there anything you want?" I ask, pretending to be intimidated by him.

"Yeah, actually, I was wondering if you had seen Ladybug."

"Ladybug? Why?"

"Ah, I just, uh…" He trails away.

"Chat?" I wonder what on Earth he's doing. I've never seen him act like this before. Suddenly, he whirls on me, and my back is pressed against the wall with a loud thud. Suddenly, my phone slips out of my pocket, and lands on the ground with a shattering sound.

"W-woah. Ch-chat. Hey, calm down–"

"Shut up for a second, okay?" He says, uncertain.

"U-uh, yeah, sure." I didn't really have to fake the stuttering.

 _He knows he knows he knows he knows-_

"Okay. Ladybug wasn't allowed a partner to go with her, right?" He says, with a kind of desperate look on his face.

 _What._

"And the rules about partnership state that unless you've been unassigned your partner, you must remain with them, is that correct?" He continues, the same look on his face.

 _Oh, I get the look now. He's desperate for me to understand._

"U-um, yes?" I agree, unsure of what he wanted.

"Yes, they do. Now, I've got Volpina as a partner, don't I? So I'm obligated to stay with her as my partner until Master Fu says otherwise, right?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, well, I'm going to break every single one of those rules." He concludes with a smirk.

After being forced to tell him where the base was, I figured that it was easy enough for me just to call again and tell them to be prepared to receive two.

Unfortunately, after I patted down my pockets, I remembered where it had fallen.

Out of my pocket in the bathroom.

I raced in, sweating.

I bent over to pick it up, and when I turned it over the screen was all but shattered, barely recognisable as a _screen._ I whimpered, and turned it over in my hands, pressing the on button over and over.

"Oh, God." I pant, "Oh God, no." I whimper, "SHIT!" I yell, pressing the on button once more and finally giving up, throwing it against the wall.

 _Shit._

*Chat POV*

After finding out where The Akumas base was, I figured it couldn't hurt to stock up on supplies.

I had gone to Nate because he was one of the few that knew exactly where to get all the information necessary for a mission where there is no information to find.

 _What's the time?_

I check the clock.

It's 9:30pm.

*Ladybug POV*

 _What's the time?_

I check my watch.

It's 9:00pm. Time to go.

I race to the college, leaping on rooves, jumping over laundry lines, spinning around electrical poles.

I was equipped with far more than was strictly necessary. I had my one throwing knife, my hand gun, equipped with a muffler, my wires (quite a silent way), my rifle strapped to my back, twin daggers strapped to my thighs, a tranquilising dart in my boot (I can throw those _very accurately_ ), my remote in case I needed to contact Miraculous, and lastly, a yo-yo.

I wasn't very practiced with the thing, (as in, for assassin standards) in fact I found them quite fickle objects, preferring to go with something less complicated, but it was all else I could fit.

It had been a while since I was decked out like this.

As I leapt down from a rooftop, I slid down a streetlamp, jumping the last couple metres, landing with ease.

As I made my way to the office building, I noticed _everything_.

The lights were off, there were about three people, all of which were unable to see me at the time, there was a slight breeze, the ground was still warm from the sunlight, there was the faint sound of leaves rustling.

I also took in escape routes. An easy way: the building to my right had a small car parked out front, and above that was a ledge of a balcony. The balcony then had a small, loose brick about the right size of a foot hole, and from there it would be easy to reach the roof.

Another: The park in front and to my left slightly had a large fountain in the centre, which at the moment was turned off. That meant there was probably a piping system nearby, and wherever there's a piping system, there has to be a maintenance tunnel for that system. Yes, there. A small, round and bronze plate covered a hole in the ground, and it would be simple enough for me to hoist it out of the ground and allow me to crawl in. Less preferable, but knowing Paris, it probably connects with the sewers, and the sewers lead _everywhere_.

I listed another seven possible escape routes, within the space of about a minute, my eyes simply flicking to each position and each next step, formulating a plan.

The time was about 9:10pm.

*Chat POV*

I was running, I was sprinting to the college I saw in the photos. It was easy enough for me to find, but I had gotten lost a few times.

It was about 9:35.

*Ladybug POV*

Now or never.

I took a few steps forward, and glanced around to the building the writing was next to in the photo. The small building, where one of the smallest lecture theatres are.

I glance around, not finding _any_ of the paint I had seen in the photograph. Damnit, what now?

I had been relying on that to give me some kind of indication to its entrance, but I wasn't expecting for it to be completely gone.

 _Shit_.

That's when a noticed a tiny speck of purple paint, just visible out of the corner of my eye.

I swiftly stepped towards it, careful to avoid the large beam of light from the streetlamp overhead. I ducked down, bending my knees to rest my hands on them and take a closer look at the paint.

It was an arrow.

A small one, granted, but it still looked vaguely as if it pointed in a direction.

I looked where it pointed, and saw another splotch of slightly pointed purple paint. I followed each one, each arrow pointing to another, then another, then another.

I glanced at the direction they were taking me.

It was towards one of the abandoned buildings at the back of the school.

For as long as I had known the place, there were three buildings at the back supposedly 'ready to be knocked down', but they never were. The buildings on the outside were covered in tarps and scaffolding, and even though it wasn't very far into the school, it was obvious that barely anyone would have been inside.

It was such a strange tactic. Place a top-secret building in the middle of a school, where it was in plain view. Then again, I suppose it makes sense. All the people here, all the students, wouldn't be able to take the time off of schoolwork to ponder the contents of a rickety old building.

At the very least, even I came here every day, and I never noticed anything strange about it.

As I made my way up to the old doorway, I seemed to notice even more.

My heartbeat pounding in my ears at a strange rate.

My fingers twitching and jerking at the slightest of sounds.

My light footsteps tapping onto the concrete beneath me.

Yet, even though I had done everything I normally would have; checked exits/escape routes, monitor my own wellbeing, take note of any bystanders, I still felt off.

Something was wrong.

No, something was missing.

Then it struck me. What was so different about this mission? What was so strange that it made me worry this much? What terrified me to be doing this?

 _I was alone._

My partner wasn't here.

Chat. He wasn't there with me.

 _I was alone._

It was 9:30 when I stepped inside the doorway, and at the same time, I didn't know, my partner was leaving to come find me.

It was 9:31 when I took in my surroundings.

The inside of the building reflected the wellbeing of the building on the outside, too. It was clear that the rooms were older than any of the others ones, but it was also clear that it was a classroom. An old one, though.

It had a chalkboard with dusters, wooden desks with trays underneath them, and even a couple of empty ink wells.

 _Just how old is this building?_

It was then that I looked at the blackboard more clearly. It was… open?

Like a door, it was swung slightly ajar, a darkness spilling out behind the opening.

With two quick and nervous treads I made my way over to it, running my hand along the doorway.

I looked up, checking to see if there was any kind of trap behind the board.

 _This just kept getting weirder._

*Chat POV*

It was 9:31 when I realised I was still lost. I had no clue where I was going, and the streets of Paris were littered with people too busy or too tired to notice me perched atop a streetlamp.

 _Where the hell is it?_

Standing, I leapt over to the building next to me, landing easily on its low roof. I glanced around, and headed up to higher ground.

If I managed to get a good view, I'd surely be able to recognise it a bit better, wouldn't I?

Climbing on top of one of the largest buildings in view, I scanned double-storey near me.

 _It had to be around here somewhere!_

It was 9:35 when I spotted the building, and mentally sighed in relief. Sprinting and leaping, I jumped over the gaps between narrow alleyways, where couples were settling down for dinner dates and people were doing some late night shopping.

It was 9:38 when I made it there.

*Ladybug POV*

Looking left and right, then up and down, I decided that it wasn't just that my eyesight needed adjusting, it truly was completely pitch-black.

Just as I decided on that, bright LED lights flashed directly in front of my eyes, and I was blinded. Realising someone else was with me, I bolted to where I knew the blackboard was on the other side, and pressed my back up against it.

Just as quickly as the lights had come on, they had turned back off again. One extreme flashing back to another.

"Oooh, clever. Very clever, little one." I recognised that voice, too. It was that yellow-coloured assassin, the one that tried to kill Volpina and Chat.

 _Spice._

"Now, now. It may have been clever, honey, but it _really_ won't do you any good." I tried to pinpoint her voice, but it kept shifting back and forth. She must be moving between the rafters. "You see; I have these _wonderful_ goggles. They allow me to see quite well in the dark. You, on the other hand, are left completely blinded by the darkness."

"Who are you?" Of course, I asked this question because it was _Marinette_ that saw her. Not Ladybug.

"Who am I? Well, that's nothing to worry about, is it? It won't matter soon."

"How so?" I took out my yo-yo, and was formulating a plan.

"Because, little one." I could hear her smiling. "You're going to be too dead to care."

In an instant, one of her knives imbedded itself onto the wall next to my head. I squeaked slightly, but then immediately brought my hand up to it. Judging by the angle it was planted in the wall, and the force of which it hit it, she was about… There.

Lancing my yo-yo out to swing in her direction, which was; in the overhead rafters, in front of me and to my left, I took a shot.

I heard a yell as it connected with something, and then a hiss of annoyance.

"Well, you truly are quite talented, little bug." She sounded pissed.

"Thank you. You aren't too bad yourself." I smirked, "But one little thing you forgot."

"Oh?" She sounded so condescending. "And what would that be?"

"You forgot to keep moving."

At that, I swung my yo-yo out again, and followed that with yanking it back and lashing out again. Each slash hit her, or some part of her body, and I continued flicking my yo-yo out to get her.

When she wasn't moving, and was too busy in shock that I had managed to hit her at all, I was able to locate where she was. It was quite simple.

I hit something harder than the other things I had been hitting, and then I hear a thud followed by silence.

Taking a cautious step forward, I followed the light sound of heaved breathing. Accidentally tripping over something, I managed to catch myself before falling down.

That thing then turned out to be a person as I inspected it with my hands, and found a thin and feminine body lying on the ground.

Exploring her body further, I located her head, resting on the ground.

Finding her neck, I felt for a pulse. It was there, but it was extremely faint, and very, very slow. Brushing my fingers over her head, they came into contact with something wet, warm, and slightly sticky.

Retracting, I brought my fingers to my nose, and smelled it.

Blood.

Metallic and thick, there was blood coating my fingers.

Swearing, I wiped it off on her body, and then began to steal goggles she was boasting about from her face.

Removing them from her head, I struggled to get them over my own eyes in the darkness, but just managed to.

I wasn't sure why I didn't want to end her. I didn't know why, but the idea of killing her made me ill.

 _Why?_

I shook my head, hefting my knife. But I stopped, and nearly was sick when the thought of what I was actually doing came back to me.

Now being able to see, I looked around, and grunted. I was in another old classroom, only this one was different. It looked more like a science lab, and had Bunsen Burners and metal tables lined up on either side. On top of them were multiple test tubes and flasks, each one containing dark liquid that seemed to move on its own.

Watching them made my stomach turn, so I looked away.

 _They hid a classroom behind a classroom? What the hell was this?_

Then I saw something else. A staircase at the other end of the room, leading down. Like a dungeon.

Jogging over to it and hopping over Spice's body, I quickly took a look down the steps. Even with the goggles, it was almost impossible to tell how far it went.

Grunting and biting my lip, I started down them.

It was 9:40 when, at the bottom of those stairs, I was led into another room, wheezing with the descent.

It was 9:41 when I decided to open the door to that room with my fingers still slippery in blood.


	12. Chapter 12- 9:45

**Chapter 12**

*Chat POV*

It was 9:40 when I found where the weird purple arrows pointed me to. Some large, old buildings, so frail-looking I was afraid they might fall down if I flicked one.

When I walked through the door, I noticed the blackboard acting strange. It was… open?

Making my way through the blackboard-room, I was enveloped in darkness. Blinking a few times, I took my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight.

Scanning with my torch, I noticed a yellow and red lump on the ground to my right. Walking over, I realised the red was blood, and the yellow was Spice, the bee themed assassin.

She was the one that stabbed Marinette with an airborne knife.

I was angry just by seeing her, but gazing at her reduced to such a state put me at ease.

Just when I was about to walk away, I realised something. Her chest was rising and falling.

 _She was still breathing?!_

 _What? If Ladybug was the one that came here, surely she would have…?_

 _Why didn't she? Why did she leave Spice alive?_

For whatever reason, I decided that I would do the same. If Ladybug didn't kill her, she would have had a reason.

Taking a look around, I noticed it seemed to be a dead end.

 _Did Ladybug come in here, then leave? If so, where did she go?_

It was 9:42 when I turned to leave, but a sound stopped me.

It was barely there, but it was just loud enough to be heard. Someone screaming.

Whipping my head around the moment I recognised the sound, I listened for it again. There it was, louder this time.

It wasn't a yell of joy from a group of teenagers, walking the streets at night.

It wasn't a shriek of delight from a child playing, enveloped in a fantasy their imagination created.

No.

It was a yell of pain. A howl of desperation.

 _Where was it coming from?_

It was then that the beam of my light shone onto some steps at the other end of the room, and I listened for the sound of the screams again as I stood at their entrance, hesitant to go down.

They weren't large, in fact the hall was quite narrow. But the steps themselves weren't coated in dust, and the walls were clean. Someone, or a group of someone's come here regularly.

And most likely, they were the cause of those screams.

Adrenaline pumping through my veins, and my heartbeat thudding dangerously into my ribcage, I sprinted down the stairs three at a time, my light illuminating the hall and the floor as they continued down, down, down…

Suddenly, they ended, and turned 90 degrees to the left. Nearly slamming into the wall with all my built up momentum, I skidded to a stop.

 _I must be really far underground right about now…_

My breathing was ragged, and my legs were burning at the journey here. Looking up, I shone my torchlight onto a door.

Then it shone onto a door handle, splattered with a darkened red.

Gasping, I jerked the handle in an attempt to open the door.

 _Ladybug…_

Was she okay? Was this her blood? Why had the screaming stopped? What was behind this door?

It was 9:43 when I heard another scream. Only this time, from being so close, I could make something else out. It was the scream of a _man._

"Chat?" A voice says behind me. It was familiar, and to be frank, was quite simply the last persons voice I wanted to hear.

"Chat, oh thank god I found you, Kitty!" Volpina sings, snaking her arms around my waist and pulling me away from the door.

Her chest was pressed against my back.

"Volpina what are you doing here?" I ask, trying to keep my burning desire to punch her in her shiny white teeth out of my voice.

"Kitty, I'm here to stop you!" She pouts slightly. "You went off without me! If Nathanael hadn't told me, I wouldn't have even known!"

 **Which was the truth. Nate had told her. Only, as an ally for the enemy.**

"Listen, Volpina, I'm sorry that I did that, but I–"

"But you what?" She asks innocently, looking up at me with wide eyes. "You decided you wanted to help Ladybug over me, isn't that it?"

"No, I just–"

"Don't bother lying! Now come on, this isn't _our_ mission!" She says 'our' as if it meant something larger than being a collective personal pronoun.

"Volpina, I can't–"

"Can't what?"

"I can't come back with you!"

"Why not?"

"Because Ladybug was given an impossible mission to do all by herself! And I'm not going to watch as my partner goes and kills herself trying to complete it!"

"I'm your partner, Chat!" she yells, and something flashed in her eyes I couldn't quite place. All the false innocence she was faking to try and win me over was gone now, and she was completely pissed.

"No, you aren't! You never were my partner!" I growl back at her, and her eyes widen further into shock.

With that I turn around, and place my hand back onto the door handle.

Just before I yank it down, something snaps onto, and burns my wrist.

Looking down, it was something made of leather, with a metallic sharp tip on the end. I followed the string now connecting my hand to someone, watching as it thickened before reaching the hand of its owner.

Who was now standing behind me with a lazy grin on her face, and her other hand planted on her jutted out hip.

"You know what, Kitty?" She purred, tugging on the whip to make me stagger back and turn to face her, too shocked to do anything, "It would have been so much nicer for the both of us if you had just come back to Miraculous with me now."

With that, she tugged it harder, and wrapped her other hand around the wrist her whip was curled over, twisting it to a point that I was standing with my back to her, and if she pulled any harder my arm would break.

"V-Volpina? What the hell are you doing?" I yell, struggling in her grip, snapping out of my stupor.

She unwinds her whip from my wrist with an easy motion, keeping my arm at near breaking point with her hand.

That same whip then loops around my neck, and _tightens._

"You know, I've never liked choking people." She states matter-of-factly. "In fact, I hate doing it. But my hatred for that little red bitch is making this slightly easier."

At that, I had managed to grip onto the knife in my sleeve I had been working loose while she talked, and slipped it out, cutting the hand holding my arm.

She hissed, and let go, allowing me to turn around to face her, and bring that knife up to her chest.

Just before stabbing her, she flicked the end of her whip up to my hand, and made me drop it.

In the narrow space we occupied, it was impossible to move too far. We were still in almost darkness, but since I had dropped my phone with the light still on, and illuminated us from beneath with a white-ish glow.

"Well, little Kitty, looks like I have you cornered." She speaks.

"Ah, don't get too confident." I gasp, rubbing my bruised neck. "It isn't quite over yet." I assailed her with a round of punches, jabbing into her face, then stomach, then thighs, landing about every two out of five that I jabbed.

She blocked the others, or avoided them, ducking out of the way.

"Guess what? I know who you are!" She whispers to me. I don't react. I don't have _time._ "Little _Adrien Agreste_."

 _Okay, I have to._

"How?" I all I manage.

"It wasn't that hard. It also wasn't that hard to just _slip_ a little _something_ into your beloved Master Fu's drink, to make him agree to send your precious little bug after you."

"That was you?"

"Of course!" She cackles. "Your Master was rather annoyed when I first ordered the kill against you, he even refused me! It didn't take long to simply _force_ him to."

"What did you give him?"

"Oh, something my sweet little Nathanael whipped up for me. It makes people rather susceptible to commands. So, I whispered a little something in your Masters ear… Off and away. It worked even better than I had hoped! He was fully intent on getting her to kill you… Sometimes I had to give him daily doses. But, it ran out, so he should be back to normal. Except, of course, he doesn't remember it was me."

"You bitch!"

She laughs. "Can't let him know that his new top dog was working against him! That would have been no fun for me at all!"

We had circled around each other, her on defence, me on offence, so now she had her back to the door, and the stairs were on my left. I had an idea.

 _I was also pissed._

 _Master Fu was one of the most brilliant men I have ever known and he had been tricked by this whore._

 _I was very pissed._

Suddenly, I started sprinting up the stairs, and she yelled after me. Turning back, and bracing my hands on either wall, I launched my body towards her, feet first.

She ducked, and my feet landed against the wall painfully, before she whirled on me and again looped the whip around my neck.

"What are you doing this for?" I manage, between shuddering breaths.

"You mean, why am I attacking my 'partner'?"

I nodded, unable to do anything else. She scoffs. "I was never really your partner, Chat. Like you said before."

"W-What?" I gasp, not because I'm surprised, but because I couldn't breathe, and didn't understand. At the time, I was too pre-occupied to be surprised.

"Well, little Kitty, I'll explain." She says, bringing her lips right next to my ear. "I was never really working for Miraculous."

When the thought kicked in, I shuddered in her death grip.

"T-Then, who do you work for?" I manage.

She laughs. "Isn't it obvious? Hawkmoth!" She has a childish gleam in her voice, and her sadistic smile was far too close to my face.

"You're a bitch." I say, between gasps. While we were going back and forth, I had gradually started bracing my feet against the wall she was pressing me to, ready to push off.

It was starting to become harder to concentrate, but I wasn't ready yet, my feet kept slipping.

"Go to sleep, Chat Noir." She smiles.

Just as the world started fading into black and colourful sparks, a scream like the one I had been hearing before pierced my ears.

Volpina, surprised, slightly loosened her grip and whipped her head to the side, allowing me to get a breath before kicking off the wall, toppling her onto the stairs behind us.

Immediately, her body went limp underneath my back, and the whip fell out of her grasp.

Struggling for breath, I scrambled onto hands and knees, clearing my vision.

Uncaring for whether Volpina was alive or not, I stood hastily, immediately forgetting her.

 _Ladybug._

Another scream sent adrenaline through my body, and I sprinted towards the door, jerking the handle this way and that.

It was 9:45 when I opened the door, and heard another scream.

Ladybug's scream.

*Ladybug POV*

(9:41)

When I opened the door, people came at me from all directions, and one of them slid cupboard in front of the door as they shut it behind me. I had barely had a total of five seconds to scan the room, but that was just enough for me to have seen what I needed.

The room was enormous, with lights hanging from the ceiling, each wall either white or grey, and a large emblem was painted on the wall at the end. It was the same symbol I saw in the photo, only far more sinister seeming.

The room had large steel beams running through the ceiling, and there were about twelve enormous support beams throughout the room at equidistant intervals, which might provide cover later on.

It didn't have the words 'The Akumas', written on it, instead it was just the purple butterfly, with some black design behind it in swirls and spots, in such a manner it looked like the wall had a disease, and it was slowly spreading.

With a thud someone lands behind me, and I see figures emerging from where the light didn't quite reach.

I spin, taking my hand gun out of my pocket and firing at his ankles – it's a reflex, and one I don't have too much time to ponder over.

 _But why aren't I aiming to kill?_

As another one comes at me from in front, someone comes at me from behind.

Retrieving my yo-yo out of my belt again – _this thing is actually coming in handy –_ I swing it out in a wide arc, circling and hitting each one in the side of the face with a crack.

Snapping my wrist back, I admire my handiwork and see three men lying on the floor – two unconscious, one clutching onto his bleeding foot, and screaming.

I snap my attention back up.

A large, red-and-black suited man comes directly at me, holding something I think of as a strange weapon – a bow and arrow. I realise that in close combat, it's a rather ridiculous way of fighting, then realise he doesn't intend to fight with it as he gently tosses it away, staring me straight in the eye.

I notice something else out of my peripheral – the other men are standing down. They create a circle around the two of us, and wait for us to make a move.

 _Who is this guy? Why does he get special treatment?_

I frown as I analyse him, and take in some minor details. Sure, he's big, but Stone Heart would be able to beat him at brute force.

 _Or, Stone Heart could have._

I shudder slightly, remembering my fallen friend, but quickly re-orientate myself. The guy wasn't taking out any weapons – he was raising his fists.

 _A fist fight?_

I regard his stance, and the look in his eyes. He's taunting me with his facial expression, daring me to try.

 _You wanted a fist fight?_

I step my right foot behind my left, leaning forward slightly, and raise my hands on either side of my face.

 _Let's do it._

He attacks first, jabbing with his left hand at my right side with a low hook, but I move my right forearm to block him, and swing with my own left hook at the side of his face.

He deflects it with his right elbow, and pushes my left hand out of my face in doing so, and in a flash he clenches his left hand, bring it up from underneath me and hitting the bottom of my jaw.

I flinch and stagger away, holding my face.

 _Damn._

I return the savage smile he gives me, and make my way back to him.

He didn't know I had been observing him so well.

He goes for another left hook, and in that moment, I hone in on the weakness I had discovered.

 _Every time he punches, the arm that is not in use raises slightly the moment his swinging fist makes contact with his target, leaving his unused side open._

As he swings out, his fist connects to my ribs, and I hear something snap, but I don't have time to dwell on it.

 _His right side is open in the split second he touches me with his fist._

I swing out too, this time going for his ribcage as well, and he groans on impact. I smile as he brings his hands to cup his side in the moment of pain, and grab onto his shoulders, taking a step back to get some leverage.

He seems to come to his senses, but it's too late, and I'm bringing my knee up to meet his stomach.

Repeatedly.

Quickly.

He screams after the fifth one, and as I let go of his shoulders he crumples to the floor. I look around, noticing the new threat of the circle of onlookers, now deciding to stop just looking.

They close in slowly, and I regard their weapons, as well as numbers.

 _Seven in total, three with simple daggers, one with a pistol, one with a crossbow (really, a crossbow?), and one with both a dagger and pistol, only his dagger is strapped to his belt._

The last is holding a sword, and he also has armour.

 _He looks like a freaking knight._

The people around him seem to give him space, though, as if even in ridiculous armour he was a higher skill level than they. That's a little sad.

 _Yo-yo again. They seem to enjoy standing in circles around me._

I lash out swiftly, and accidentally hit one of their daggers out of their hands and it falls to the floor, another one of the men jabbing with his blade behind me before I whip my yo-yo around to hit his hip, and he winces, but doesn't fall.

 _Okay, goodbye yo-yo._

I take out my throwing knife as one slices through my leather on my forearm with his knife, and as I elbow that one in the chest I fling my throwing knife with my other hand, embedding it in his thigh.

He screams, too.

A shot fires, and the instant I hear the sound I duck slightly, the bullet whizzing past my hair.

I turn to the direction of the sound, and the guy with the gun was standing next to the guy with the crossbow, each aiming their weapon at me.

Using the guy I had taken down earlier in a fistfight as a body shield I go and retrieve two of the daggers from the other men.

Managing to hold one knife in my teeth and another in my free hand, I clutch onto the man's shirt to keep him blocking the pathway between me and the other two.

 _Wait, where's the knight?_

I glance around, but find him nowhere, even with the goggles on.

Immediately I dart behind a support pole, and the breadth of the cement easily covers both me and my shields body.

Out of no-where, the man dressed as a knight comes at me from the darkness, and I move my head slightly to the left as his sword clangs onto the beam.

"Well, hello." He says through deep breaths. He seems older than me, but younger than Master Fu.

 _Nevertheless, if he's skilled, an age gap wouldn't put him at a disadvantage._

"Hi." I respond, dropping the man I had used as a shield onto the floor and bringing my left foot up to meet the knights chin.

 _I might need to send for back up…_

 _No._

 _This is my mission. It's my job to find and kill Hawkmoth. I can't give up, not now. Not now…_

He makes a sound of pain and backs away, and I jump to snap my right foot into his face too.

He _screams_ in anger and frustration and pain, and swings his sword out wildly.

It slashes up my chest, ripping the leather of my suit and flesh.

It was 9:45 when I screamed, and at the same time the door burst open.


	13. Chapter 13- Judgement Reigns

**Chapter 13**

*Chat POV*

I took one glance at the carnage, and blanched.

Ladybug was kneeling before a man in full body armour, her chest split open and bleeding far too much.

There were about fifteen men on the ground, but they were all alive.

 _Why are they all alive?_

I had no time to ponder too long, as Ladybug then turned to me, covered in fresh, blooming red bruises, her blood staining and seeping into her leather.

"Chat…" She whispers, and through the silence that fell over the room, it is the only thing that can be heard.

I take one look at the desperate glance from her eyes, and the only thing I see after that is red.

My weapons become a part of me as I whirl around the room, lancing, jumping, ignoring the blows from the men I received.

 _I would kill them._

I let out a guttural cry and my instincts take over, as I kill each person through my anger.

 _I would kill them all._

Rage. Pure and animalistic it coursed through my veins, my actions becoming inconceivable and impossible to catch as I beat each man that I had already taken down, and chased after the ones that started to run.

 _Die._

I slashed another down, and realised something after turning back to look in the direction of Ladybug.

 _They were all dead._

Every person in the room, save for Ladybug and myself were dead, lying in pools of their own blood, motionless for eternity.

"Chat… Stop…" The whimpering from Ladybug means she's been saying it before; I simply hadn't heard her.

"Ladybug!" I yell, and sprint in her direction. She was fifty metres away from me, no, twenty, no, ten, no she's right here.

I had run so quickly with my burst of adrenaline, and taken almost two seconds to run to her.

When I reach her I slide onto my knees to lift her body, now on the floor onto my lap.

"My Lady…" I whisper, gaping at the wound on her body, and hugging her closer to me.

She winced at the movement, but smiled at me.

"H-Hey…"

"My Lady… No…" I repeat, not knowing what else to say.

 _Help, she needs help. Medical attention. Re-enforcements, too._

I fumbled to take out the little remote, and pressed the button on the communicator. "Help is coming…" I whimpered at her, "Help is on the way, just stay with me for now…"

"You look really tired." She commented. I smiled.

"Yeah, yeah I am." Tears had started running down my face.

 _When was the last time I cried like this? Unrelenting tears, a continuous display of emotion that one cannot hide, no matter how hard they try._

I smiled at her, too. "You're gonna be okay…" I pleaded, "You're gonna be okay…"

At that moment, with both of us staring into each other's eyes, another door at the other end of the enormous underground room opened, and more lights on the ceiling flickered on.

A man stood silhouetted in the doorway, placing a cane in front of him with both hands on it's handle.

"My, my." His deep voice croons, echoing through the room. The voice seemed to ricochet around my head, and I recognised it from my brief hearings of it.

 _Father…?_

"I didn't expect the _both_ of you to turn up." He says with a slight annoyance, as if he knew one would come, but not the other.

"Ah, I see you've made a fool out of my men." He says, surveying the dead people around the two Miraculous assassins. "Well, not as if they can feel much humiliation from their demise, anymore."

He steps from the doorway, and more people emerge behind him, tailing him like bodyguards.

Each step he takes makes a loud tapping sound on the floor, and his cane steps in his left hand in time with his right foot.

 _It's him. It's Hawkmoth._

As he steps further into the light, he flicks his fingers and another set of lights, this time facing upwards from the floor, lighting the overhead beams to reveal more men, turn on.

They stood, hung, leaned and sat on the overhead steel beams, each one with a smirk of satisfaction on their faces.

There were about fifty of them, and another five behind Hawkmoth.

"Hello there, Ladybug." He smiles. "Hello there, Chat Noir."

 _It's my father._

 _But he isn't mocking me by calling me my real name. He doesn't know it's me._

"Hello there." I growl, and gently lay Ladybug back on the floor. She makes a moaning noise to try and stop me, and I ignore it.

"Sorry, Ladybug. I gotta do something." I spin, and look Hawkmoth in the eye.

He smiles at me, and raises his left hand, then jerks it forward. Twenty men descend on me from above, each one brandishing a different weapon.

Daggers, knives, lances, bows, darts, guns, wires, batons ( _batons what the hell_ ).

I tried to defend myself, but it was too much, and they had me pinned to the floor after I took out seven of them.

The energy I had used when I first entered was all but gone now, and my head was spinning as they tied my hands behind my back.

"Poor thing." Hawkmoth says, "He barely has the power to defend himself, how can he think to try and defend his beloved?"

He taunted with a triumphant smirk, and put his right hand on the top of the cane, and his left down its side further, then he started to pull his hands away from each other.

As he pulled, the cane seemed to expand… no. It wasn't expanding, it was separating. He had pulled the thinnest sword out of his cane that I had ever seen.

It glinted in the lights bearing down from the roof, and he grinned further. "Ah, I guess we'll just have to end this here, then." He takes cautious steps towards me, and swings the sword lazily at his side.

"Come now, give the boy some room."

 _Father, please._

I couldn't speak with the gag in my mouth that had just put in, but as he draws nearer, I realise I hadn't even seen my father at the house in days. He had been gone for weeks on end sometimes, never even caring I was alone.

As the men step away, I feel the bottom of his shoe pressing down on the back of my skull, pushing my nose into the floor painfully.

"Stay down, little thing." He coos, and raises his sword. "It'll be over soon."

"Stop..." Ladybug moans, and I turn my head to see her clutching her side, crawling towards me.

Her nails scraped painfully along the floor as she clawed to get to me, trying in vain to ignore the pain of her wound. She clutched onto some guys dead arm to heave herself over him, but screamed when she twisted slightly, and sagged onto the floor.

Hawkmoth ignores her, and raises his sword higher.

"Say goodbye."

And his sword comes down.

 **A/N: Okay, we may be doing the cliff-hangers on purpose now, but to be honest even we don't quite know how this will play out yet… We're experimenting still. Also, we're both aware this chapter is a little short, but, really we're a bit busy, what with the Christmas spirit going around, but our next chapter will be up rather soon.**

 **Actually, thanks to the people that have already commented, it's awesome, we're kinda stoked. You're all making us feel so much better at this then we really are haha.**

 **We have tried to fix the errors, and, uh, basically follow some of the guidelines you guys have been giving us for these past few chapters... We did listen to all of you, and we stole some ideas for this story, then stored the others for different stories too!**

 **Anyways, enjoy~**


	14. Chapter 14- I'll Catch Up

**Chapter 14**

*Ladybug POV*

My heartbeat marks the milliseconds.

 _Ba-dum._

I watch as Hawkmoth brings down his sword, and scream.

 _Ba-dum._

It's inches from Chat's chest.

 _Ba-dum._

 _NO!_

 _Ba-dum._

A clang of solid on metal reverberates through the room, and my eyes snap open and follow a brown object flying through the air, landing into the hands of someone standing in the entrance.

The sword that was slicing through the air had brushed against Chat's chest, but the object had sent it flying across the room.

Hawkmoth whips his head up, and sees the smirk on Master Fu's face as, at his side, an assassin with brown hair and a green-ish suit catches the boomerang whipping back to him.

My heart was beating so fast I assumed the entire room echoed its panic.

"Lady Wifi, get Ladybug." Master says. In an instant she's standing over me, lifting my smaller body easily into her arms, carrying me away from Chat.

I try to resist, but her soothing voice almost puts me to sleep with the added blood loss.

"Hawkmoth." Master Fu says. I can barely hear him from the rushing sound in my ears.

 _My heartbeat is slowing._

"Coward." Hawkmoth regards him, "What are you doing here? I didn't forget some dinner plans or anything, did I?" He smiles through his slightly veiled rage.

"Let Chat go." Master says, and the others from Miraculous pour through the doorway, fanning out to either side of him. "Let him go." He repeats.

 _God, I can't even see properly._

Chat is still bound, gasping through the gag, with his eyes splayed wide. He hadn't moved since Master had appeared.

 _But he's alive._

 _He's freaking alive._

Hawkmoth studies him for a moment, then shrugs. "Okay." He lifts his boot, and draws his leg back, kicking Chat in the stomach, sending his body rolling away a few metres.

Chat groans, and I start to move against Lady Wifi's grip, but she doesn't let up.

"Shall we?" Hawkmoth says, and makes a hand gesture. His men come down from the ceiling, and form a thick semi-circle behind him.

Master Fu widens his stance, and hefts a dagger. "Let's."

*Chat POV*

Their battle commences quickly, and the moment their weapons clash the men around them herd towards the group of Miraculous Assassins, completely sure their Master would prevail.

 _No. How wrong they are. Master Fu is superior, there is no point worrying for him._

As Lady Wifi takes Ladybug away, the assassin with the boomerang comes and takes me out of my binds.

"Thanks." I splutter, the moment the gag is removed.

"Hey, no problem." He smiles, and I look onto his face. Something is really familiar about it…

 _No time._ I chide myself mentally, and quickly hop to my feet and turn towards the action.

Assassins were swiping backwards and forwards, and it was clear the enemy assassins were far inferior to us in skill. But they outnumbered us five to one.

As each assassin took on about four to six at once, they were almost immediately overwhelmed, but nonetheless they held their ground.

 _What tenacious weirdos._

Taking out my baton (my favourite weapon, even if Ladybug teases me about it frequently) I leapt into action, and quickly shoved my concerns for her out of the way.

 _She's fine._

It's hard to convince myself with her screaming in pain in the background through the muffled sounds of people stabbing each other to death.

 _"You must focus on the task more demanding."_

Master Fu's words from when he was first training us come back to me as I glance back in her direction, but shake my head slightly.

 _"No matter the situation, you must choose to save your own life over anyone else's."_

His voice reigns over all the other things I'm feeling. Turning completely away from her now, I sprint and attack someone from behind, killing him with one blow.

I also remember what I said earlier. I said I would rather die than live in a world without her. But I can't focus on her right now. My _other_ friends, my _other_ comrades, they're waiting for me to help them.

 _Time to focus. I'm sorry Ladybug. Right now, I'm going to leave you behind._

 _Don't worry, though._

 _You'll catch up._

*Ladybug POV*

From my spot on the floor, I had the best view of all the fighting going on throughout the cavernous room.

Each spar and block echoed, each scream ricocheted, each yell reverberated, and the sound of a body falling to the floor resounded vividly in my ears.

 _One. Two. Three…_

People were falling everywhere, yet every Miraculous member was still standing.

 _Six. Seven…_

I watched as a person I didn't know, with an expression of utter confusion fell to the ground, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to _exist anymore._

They were _finished._

They were _over._

They no longer 'were' anything, for they simply ceased to exist by the hand of another.

Taking life was an art, especially when the one taking the life had merits as to why the other deserved to die.

But this? Us?

We never killed for a reason other than we were either payed to, or told to by someone in charge.

We killed mercilessly.

 _Without reason other than to defeat an enemy that was of no threat to anyone but ourselves, and the only reason they were a threat to us was because we attacked first._

Does that make us selfish for wanting to save our lives rather than sacrifice it so many others may live? Or does it simply make us humans? For is it not human intuition that drives us to save ourselves over someone else?

Would it have been better, would the world have many more people in it, if I hadn't been born in the first place?

Who knows.

Someone yelled out in pain, and it was a voice I recognised.

 _Chat._

Finding where he was, I nearly fainted. He was kneeling, about four men surrounding him in order to hold him down.

Looking at him now, I felt something strange tug at my stomach. It was a demanding sensation, unrelenting and insanely powerful. It made me want to move. It made me want to scream.

I also felt something else. Looking at him now, it almost felt like he was leaving me behind. It wasn't like he was abandoning me, no. It was more like he was teasing me. Taunting me to catch up to him.

 _Like I'm gonna let you leave me behind._

But right now, he was being overwhelmed.

"Chat…" I had intended to yell to him, but it became the sound of a raspy plea. "Chat, no…"

"Ladybug, stay here." Lady Wifi tells me, after setting me up on the furthest away support structure.

"No, I can't, I need…" My words faded as my vision did, and I watched Chat spring into action, easily escaping their grasp again.

 _Oh, he's okay…_

"Chat is fine." Lady Wifi said, noticing my line of sight. "So stay here, Nate is grabbing some medical stuff, he's coming over here right now."

"Ah, cool." I muttered, slumping down.

"I have to go." She said, and I noticed her staring after the boy that had come in with the boomerang earlier. He had a dark-ish complexion, and relatively short brown hair, as well as glasses.

 _How does he keep them on…?_ I wonder deliriously, and shudder as Lady Wifi lets me go and sprints in his direction.

A little later, maybe thirty seconds, someone comes bursting in, and I'm the only one not too far into action to notice.

It's Nathanael. I instantly relax, remembering Lady Wifi's words. He's here to heal me up.

I look at him until he notices me, and his eyes scan me before widening, shock and horror blanketing his features, as he starts sprinting towards me.

"Ladybug, w-what happened–"

"It's okay, just patch me up."

And he does. In one second, he has me with only a light shirt on, with bandages wrapping my wound with gauze and some type of paste, meanwhile people were still falling and fighting. Nate does it so quickly that I barely register it, but he won't let me stand.

"No, Ladybug. You have to rest." He says, calmly. In fact, far too calmly. The kind of calm one thinks looks normal to other people when barely containing some form of rage. I pretend I don't notice, simply out of reflex.

"Nate, really, I have to–"

"Ladybug, honestly you're not in shape to–"

"No, Nate, I really need–"

"Fine!" He snaps, but he yanks me back down as he does so anyway.

 _That was too easy. That was way too easy._

"At least drink this." He pulls something out of the little satchel he has with him, and beside us Lady Wifi screams when someone hits her in the shin.

I wince, but Nathanael doesn't waver, he simply continues to hold out the thing he wanted me to drink with unblinking eyes.

The vial he holds is half-full with a roiling black liquid, and it moves in such a way it makes it look almost alive. With a start, I realise it's exactly like the stuff in the science lab behind the blackboard upstairs.

 _Oh God, no._

I panic slightly.

"Look, Nathanael, I don't have time–"

He responds by shoving the rim against my lips, and tipping my head backwards to slide it down my throat.

 _What?_

"I'm sorry Ladybug." He sounded like he was sad, but I didn't get a chance to look, I was too busy sputtering and gasping with every full breath of air that mixed with the liquid.

Some of it slid down my throat. I felt it sticking there, clogging and reshaping inside of me.

 _Oh Gods._

The rest I managed to catch before it went down fully, by coming to my senses and punching Nate in the stomach so he would let go.

He gasps and moans before curling into a foetal position on the floor, clutching his middle with both arms.

I am on my hands and knees, coughing and gagging up the stuff he tried to get me to swallow. It was slightly sticky, and only now do I realise where I remember it from originally.

 _"They know it was some kind of poisoning, though." Tikki says._

 _"How so?"_

 _"Each victim had some weird black-ish liquid in the backs of their throats."_

 _"Jesus…"_

The Miraculous Assassins victimised to Hawkmoth had the same stuff inside of them.

 _Nate was trying to poison me?_

Nate, sweet, blushing, and always reliable, was the person responsible for killing all the Miraculous Assassins.

I only am still here because I just vomited it all up.

I turn to him, and he seems to realise what I know.

"I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"I just… I…"

I narrow my eyes, and stand tall, so I'm over him. "Why?" I repeat, wanting him to know just how superior I am to him. He gulps.

"I sympathised with Hawkmoth."

I widen my eyes. "What?"

"His story," Nate explains, "I understood it very well. He loved someone, and he lost that someone because of someone else. I just… I understood that. He wanted revenge for it." His eyes darken slightly. "I understand that too."

I am slightly heartbroken at the sight before me. He looked so feeble, so afraid. Like a cornered animal he cowered underneath me, as if he was scared I might hurt him. But at the same time he was unrelenting.

Complete determination was on his face, but his eyes were terrified.

He truly believed he was doing what was right.

 _Would I be able to do the same? I killed without meaning. I destroyed without a cause._

 _Maybe I don't deserve to live._

"Nate, leave." I spit.

He turns to me. "Really?"

"Just get out. I'll give you one minute," I said that because I knew he was still in pain, "before I kill you if you aren't out of this room."

His eyes widen, and he scrambles to his feet, whirling back towards the door. Then, he turns back to me, hesitating, before striding over to whisper to me. I don't have the strength to start away.

"Volpina isn't a Miraculous Assassin." His words hiss in my ear.

"What?" I shriek, jumping backwards. I don't get shocked easily.

He looks around as if someone would have heard us through all the noise. "I said she's not an assassin. Well, she is, but she works for Hawkmoth."

"Like you?" I bite.

 _Meowch._ Inside my head, Chat speaks.

 _Not now, Chat, shut up._

He winces. "Ladybug please, I'm trying to help you."

I look into his eyes, and he's pleading me. I decide in a split second. "Fine, is there anyone else?"

"No, it was just us."

"Okay. Thank you, Nate."

"No problem."

"Now get the fuck out."

Joining back into the fight was a terrible, terrible idea. I managed to throw one knife before blood loss made me fall over, and Chat had to carry me to the side.

"What the heck were you doing?"

"Helping?" I try.

"Then don't, you're making it harder for me."

I glare at him, then do a double take when I realise there are two 'him's. "Woah, you have a twin." I laugh, then realise I sound insane.

He puts me on the floor on a faraway support pillar, and then looks me in the eye. "Stay here, you hear me?"

I nod, weakly. "Yeah."

He nods back, grinning. "Gotta blast."

Everyone was fighting.

Lady Wifi, that boomerang dude, that guy, that… I'm pretty sure I know… Man, I can't think right now. I wonder how much blood people need in order to function properly?

I look to Hawkmoth and Master Fu's battle, and I can hear the words they're saying to each other over the noise, just barely.

I seem to have missed the start of their conversation.

"You were always an annoyance, Fu." He readies his cane-sword, and lunges at Master Fu, but Fu deflects it or dodges it, and I'm too bleary-eyed to figure out which.

 _Stay awake._

"I don't think that's what you always believed, Hawk." Master responds.

"Oh? How so?" He sounds teasing, but pissed as well.

"I was your best man at your wedding." He states.

 _I'm going to be a bridesmaid._ I think, cheerfully.

"I graduated with you and your would-be wife." He continues, "I watched you become one of the best assassins in the world, all the while standing by your side."

Hawkmoth grits his teeth, and swipes at him with his sword again.

 _Oh? He must have picked it up again._

"So what? I always hated you." Hawkmoth continues.

"No, you didn't."

"You were an insignificant fool." Hawkmoth draw his face closer to Fu's, and only now do I notice Fu had no weapon. He was fighting in full green-ish light-weight body armour, and yet, he was without a blade, or weapon of any kind.

 _He can't fight properly without a weapon._

"You were so… inferior. And yet, you climbed the ranks faster than I did. I hated you for it."

"But, after that, you took over." Master says, gasping for breath. They must have been fighting for a while. The two of them were standing apart from the fray of the others, circling.

"Yes, that is true. But." He says, and stabs the sword through Masters thigh.

 _No._

 _How could that have happened so easily? I don't understand! Master!_

I scramble to my knees, and start trying to yell, but everyone else's attention was on something or someone else.

 _No._

Master yells in pain, and at that, Hawkmoth twists the blade now severing his muscles, skin and veins.

Master is too far away. God, no.

It's happening too fast.

Stop.

"Plead." Hawkmoth says, through a maniac grin.

 _That bastard._

I try to stand. I fall. I don't have time.

 _Master, you need a weapon! Fight back, please!_

"What?" Master gasps, through his agony. Master!

"I said, plead." Hawkmoth repeats, as Master Fu falls to his knees, in front of the overbearing man, the blade still protruding through his thigh, blood now spreading morbidly down his clothes.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I have… done nothing…" Master wheezes. "that allows me… able to beg… for my life."

 _No! Fu, stop!_

"What?" Hawkmoth stiffens, but twists the blade again.

"Well," Master begins, but shudders as Hawkmoth removes the blade, sliding it out of his wound disgustingly slowly. Hawkmoth then draws it back, ready to stab it in again.

Master Fu continues speaking. "Maybe I don't deserve to live."

I scream, and this time it works. All the Miraculous assassins turn their heads slightly at me, and then turn to the Master when they see where I'm looking.

They stop.

Then, each one, starts to run.

Every single one of them leaves themselves wide open, to run to him.

They forget whoever they were fighting, for that person no longer matters.

They are sprinting, gasping, leaping to get to him, trying to save him _._

 _Please. Save him…_

I watch as Hawkmoth stabs his blade forward, and I almost expect a boomerang to whip it out of the air again.

But, it doesn't.

Stop.

Time. I don't have any time. I can't do anything. Help, someone. Please.

The blade slips through the crack in his armour.

A sickening sound reaches my ears, and Master Fu coughs. He coughs up _red._ Deep crimson.

Master Fu falls.

He doesn't get back up.


	15. Chapter 15- Sickened, or Hooked

**Chapter 15**

*Ladybug POV*

I can hear screaming.

 _Oh, is it me?_

Suddenly, I can't feel the pain of my wound anymore. The sounds fade away. The lights make no difference to my vision. The feeling of my dagger sliding out of its sheath in my hand. The smell of blood.

The taste of salt.

 _Am I crying?_

It doesn't matter.

He isn't dead. He can't be.

The Miraculous Assassins stand, rooted, their weapons falling from their hands, their eyes wide, their bodies unmoving.

Some fall to their knees. Others, can't move at all.

The only sound was heaving breaths, and the sickening noise of Hawkmoth laughing.

I watched as he fell to his knees too, his shoulders shaking, his eyes wide.

His laugh was so terrible that if every Miraculous Assassin in the room wasn't overcome with fury, they would have shivered.

 _But they were, and they were slowly closing in on him._

Suddenly, I was moving with them.

The screaming stopped.

The pain in my side forgotten, the aching in my head and limbs ignored, I walked over to him, shoving my way past all the others until they noticed me, and started clearing a path.

 _I didn't see their faces at the time. Lady Wifi was kneeling. One was crying. Everyone stared. Such terrible emotions pulsated through them, and they did nothing to stop it. The bloodlust they felt, the eagerness to obliterate a person, it was a drug._

 _They all tasted it then._

 _Some were sickened by it. Some were hooked._

I looked at the lifeless body of the Master on the ground.

 _Which one was I?_

"Ladybug…" Chat says, his voice cutting through the cackling, "Ladybug, don't."

 _Why? Why shouldn't I? He sounds like he cares for this person. They don't matter. Not in that way. In some ways, he matters more than anyone. In other ways, he's a tiny pinprick of something larger than the rest of humanity._

"Shut up." I say, monotonously. "Be silent, Chat."

"Ah, that's right." Hawkmoth turns his diabolical smile towards me. "Put your little pet in line."

And I move. I whip the dagger in my hands towards him, and drive it through his neck.

My fingers jerk around, still unstable, making it messy and unco-ordinated.

My eyes are so large they could have rivalled an owl's, and my teeth almost shatter from how hard they were being forced together.

 _Die. Maybe I was the hooked one, then._

I stand there as his blood flows down my hands, and I wait even longer, in time to see the satisfied smile that spreads on his face when he is just seconds from death.

 _He's truly mad._

"Ah, little bug." He croons, "There's no point in being happy for your victory now." He glances towards Master Fu, and I refuse to turn and look. "See, because I killed him."

He leans towards me, and I grip my free hand through his hair, ripping some out of his scalp.

"He's dead." He smiles, "I killed him! I killed your precious Master!"

Suddenly, a yell cuts through the otherwise silent room, and another dagger slashes through his neck from the other side, spattering blood onto my face, neck and arms.

I look up, and see Chat crazed with rage.

 _Is that what I look like?_

I suppose it doesn't matter now.

"How dare you!" He shouts, and rips the blade out of the body by slashing it through, splattering more blood onto my face. "How fucking _dare you_!"

Hawkmoth didn't respond.

He was no longer able to.

I watched in terrible ecstasy as the light faded from his eyes, my fingers and hands and toes and legs shaking from the incredible sensation that filtered through my body.

 _Am I mad too?_

I looked at Chat, and the same thing was happening to him, though his eyes were fixed on Hawkmoth.

 _Am I imagining this?_

I let the dagger fall from my grip, and slowly he raised his eyes to meet mine. They were such bright green, crazed, angered, overcome with some complicated emotion I couldn't fathom.

 _No. It was real. Hawkmoth is dead._

With that, I slowly turned around, and fell to the ground.

 _So is Fu._

I wept. It was a silent weep, where sounds didn't come. Simple overflowing.

I continued weeping when a pair of hands encircle my waist, slowly moving to clutch onto my shoulders and wrap around me.

I continued weeping when I realised it was Chat, lying next to me, sobbing, and shaking just as much as I.

I continued weeping when I in turn snaked my own arms around him.

I continued weeping as the remaining assassins destroyed the last of Hawkmoths men, leaving us surrounded by their blood, soaking in it.

It was horrifying, and disgusting.

It was beautiful.

Chat and I lay near the Master's body.

I wept for the man I knew to be the dearest, and wisest person I had ever known. I wept for the man that had taught me, had trained me, had punished me, had disciplined me.

I wept because he was brilliant, and he hadn't deserved those last words to be the ones he had said.

 _"Maybe I don't deserve to live."_

The same thing I thought. He doesn't deserve it.

I didn't know it then.

But Chat wept for someone that had meant so much more, and he had wept for someone who maybe could have been better. He wept for himself, for he believed himself to be corrupted. He was one of the damned.

He wept for the possibility of happiness. For it was unattainable, now.

Or, that's what he thought.

*Chat POV*

After finally finishing crying, Ladybug and I stayed with each other in the same spot, stained in tears and blood, as the others dragged the bodies away.

 _Master Fu was my father. In every sense of the word expect biologically, he was. He was my father. I loved him._

 _Now he's dead. Just like my mother. Just like my real father. Because my father failed to save her. And I had failed to save my father._

 _Or fathers. Maybe I failed to save both of them. Maybe I killed both of them._

We stayed there, eyes clamped shut, throats unable to speak, clutching onto each other like a lifeline.

"Ladybug." I started, as my left side began to ache from being on the floor at an odd angle.

She didn't respond.

"Ladybug," I repeated, and moved slightly away from her, removing my hands from her back with a rip, as they had started to dry that way in blood.

"My Lady, let's go home."

After returning to Miraculous, nothing changed.

The world kept turning.

The Earth continued to spin.

Nothing changed.

Everyone needed medical attention, and for some reason Ladybug and Nate look at each other with weary glances, before eventually having a chat I wasn't privy to, and coming back looking bleary-eyed but back to normal.

My diagnosis was this – one black eye, a nasty cut down the cheek, shin splints (I had been landing on my feet rather roughly) and altogether achy muscles.

I was fine.

Ladybug, however, was most certainly _not_ fine.

Three broken ribs, a centimetre deep cut down her front, bruises blooming across her stomach, legs and arms. She had a shard of metal sticking out of her arm she didn't remember.

She was practically dead with blood loss.

Just as we were about to run out of makeshift beds on top of desks back at Miraculous, Nate ran into a room with a metaphorical light bulb above his head, and came back with a set of keys jingling in his hands.

He opened a door I hadn't even known was there, and revealed what appeared to be a hospital wing.

Everyone, on seeing this, groaned in both relief and frustration.

"Why didn't you open that before?"

"Geez, Nate."

"Nathanael!"

See, none of us had ever needed it before. Our missions were easy, quick, and clean. I don't think ever in my time here, even when I was a child, had I even known that was there.

In fact, I have no clue why it's even there in the first place.

The rooms in there were cramped and dusty, but the vents circulating airflow turned on easily enough, so everyone was fine with it soon.

Ladybug needed stitches.

She had held my hand a little too tight for this, not wearing anything on her top half. The fantasy of her breasts didn't really excite me while she was covered in blood.

Afterwards, I helped them clean her, as she had a lot of blood caked on her skin. It was either that, or let Nate do it, so I helped one of the other female members who wasn't too hurt help wipe her down with some warm, wet tea towels.

I carefully followed the splatters of blood down her body, and I was assigned her top half while the other worker was assigned her legs. We left her underwear on, but the woman cleaned off as much blood as she could.

I wondered something as I wiped her face.

 _Who's blood even is this?_

She went completely to sleep, but I refused to get help for myself until I knew she was fine.

I didn't actually _need_ help. Not if Ladybug did.

I didn't go home that night, either, because Ladybug hadn't. So I stayed, and she stayed, both of us still wearing our masks, both of us asleep whenever someone came in to check on us.

When she woke up, I did too, because she groaned.

"Ladybug!" I squealed like a child, and threw myself onto the floor next to her bed. "You're awake." I breathe something out I couldn't quite identify. Relief? I knew she wasn't going to die. Frustration? It wasn't her fault for being hurt… _Love._

I remembered, in that moment, with her hair still matted with drying blood, her breath disgusting, her eyes swollen, her chest wrapped in bandages, that I was completely in love with her. I remembered that I loved her from the start.

Afterwards, Ladybug never let me bring her food. Or let me help her out of bed. Or open doors. Or help her up the stairs.

She wouldn't let me help with anything.

She only stayed one night, and she was worried there would be people looking for her, so she insisted she went home.

"Ladybug, please, you're still hurt–"

"I'm _fine_ , Chat." She snaps, and hurtles through the lift doors. I follow her in, and she groans in frustration.

"Go away." She is leaning heavily on the rail against the wall.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Who are you?" I ask, suddenly. I don't know which one of us is more surprised.

"Excuse me?"

"I just…" _I don't really know._ "I want to know."

"No."

"Why?"

"You'll get hurt."

"No, I won't–"

"Yes, Chat." She says, and stands a little smaller, "Yes, you will."

There's something in the way she says it. Something in the way she whispers my name that's familiar.

 _Marinette._

I pretend not to realise it. I pretend not to think about it. I try not to show anything on the outside.

Because she looks _the same._

In every way, they are the same, but they are also opposites. No, not opposites. Ladybug is everything that Marinette is, but amplified.

Marinette is gentle, and caring and calm in the way she handles things. Ladybug is all those things, but with added bloodlust. Marinette is a breeze; Ladybug is a cyclone.

So, I follow her home. Both to make sure she gets there safely, and to test my ridiculous theory.

 _Surely not…?_

And after slowly trailing Ladybug from the shadows of the night, I realise we are coming closer and closer to Marinette's house.

 _Oh my God…_

I make a list of all the things in my head saying they are the same and they aren't. My entire body is shaking.

Then I also realise something.

I had always loved Ladybug. But in those nights when I had helped Marinette, I had slowly been falling for her other half.

It was so perfect, so complete, that when she enters the window of Marinette's room in front of me, a shadow simply passing through, I almost follow her in.

But I don't, for one reason.

 _What if she doesn't love me?_

I had taken to carrying Ladybugs dagger around with me when I first had gotten it. After one of my guards had accidentally grabbing _it_ instead of _her_ , he had given it to me at my request.

I hadn't known why I wanted to keep it then, but I wanted to return it to her, I guess. How, exactly, I was going to do that was something I hadn't really had time to ponder over for a while since I had acquired it.

 _It has Marinette's initials on it._

How did I never notice it before?

But now, it fits and stays snug in a little pocket at my hip, waiting to be returned at the right moment, and it follows me wherever I go.


	16. Chapter 16- Revealed, At Last

**Chapter 16**

*Ladybug POV*

I needed to apologise to Chat. That was a fact. I needed to, desperately. He had tried to help. But I had rudely pushed him away.

I was just so nervous. I was so scared. I was so _tired._

Alya and Nino's wedding was coming up, but I had barely realised, what with some _other stuff_ that was happening.

I had dropped out of school, too.

For some reason, the idea of doing schoolwork now seemed ridiculous. I also relinquished my position at Miraculous.

Turns out, after another day of going there (after cleaning my clothes and outfits and weapons), that Chat Noir had had a fight with Volpina in order to enter The Akumas, and when the rest of Miraculous had come, they had found her dead body in the doorway.

 _Not sad about it._

I should probably be a little sad about a dead person. But I'm not.

It sickens me.

So I had quit. I had given up on that stupid life. There was no point in it. I hadn't gotten fulfilment; I had gotten pain.

And Chat doesn't need me, anyway.

*Chat POV*

I needed her, desperately.

"Ladybug's gone…?" The news goes in one ear and out the other, much like the news I had found out (don't ask how) about Marinette dropping out of school.

 _Is she okay…?_

Suddenly, the meeting room we were currently in felt empty. I stand abruptly, shutting out all the other sounds around me and leaving.

They were probably about to appoint me as top dog.

There were people yelling at me, and don't get me wrong, I cared about what would happen to Miraculous, I simply didn't want to focus on that now.

 _I'm going to help her._

I don't remember getting in front of Marinette's balcony, all I know is that I'm there now.

All the meetings we had at Miraculous were held at night, so right now it was about 8:00 p.m., with almost no clouds, leaving the stars exposed. I didn't see the large storm cloud brewing.

It reminds me of the night I spent with Marinette at the restaurant.

When I first saw her eyes, I had vowed to find a way to discover the half of her that wasn't exposed on the surface.

I hadn't realised I had known that covered half of her far better than the half I had vowed to discover the missing pieces of.

It was amazing, but terrifying.

I loved her.

Completely.

Both sides.

Totally.

I watched her from the shadows as she moved around her house, cleaning. She was pretty much healed now, except for her broken rib. Her bruises were basically gone, and the cuts were faded scars.

I memorise her.

 _Should I say hi? Should I just wander in and make myself comfortable?_

Then, when I thought she saw me in the reflection of her mirror, and I stiffened, she kept cleaning as if she hadn't.

 _What the hell am I even doing here?_

I'm turning to leave.

Then she casually strolls out onto the balcony, and walks _very close_ to where I was standing. She then pulls an umbrella out of the little stand, and curls the bottom of it around my ankle, yanking me down to the ground before I had a chance to react.

I whacked my head on the ground, and was left a sprawling mess of limbs now exposed to the light.

"Chat?" She murmured, incredulously, "Chat, holy fuck you scared me." She presses the hand she has free against her forehead.

"What a mouth, My Lady." I chide.

She turns to me, and I pale.

 _"My Lady". Fuck._

My blood rushes away from my face so quickly I am left blacking out slightly, and I stand rather awkwardly.

 _Shit._

Her jaw drops.

Mine does too.

"Sorry, Ladybug." I decide I'd rather take whatever I have coming for me. "I know it's you."

I panic at her lack of response, and I start to rant, apologising and explaining how I followed her home and how I kind of figured it out and how I just didn't mean to-

But she stops me by hitting me over the head with the umbrella. _Hard._

Shuddering, I drop down, and check my fingers for blood after pulling them away from my head.

 _Clean._

Phew. Then I remember, as Marinette stands over me, seething, that I _really don't have time for feeling relief._

Jumping back to my feet, I throw my arms out to protect myself, and close my eyes. In all my years, no matter what weapon or circumstances, I hadn't beaten her once at sparring. Not once.

I felt something hit me. It wasn't the umbrella. It was rather tickly under my chin. It was Marinette's head. "M-My Lady…?"

She was resting her forehead on the front of my chest, and she seems to sag against me in exasperation.

"How long have you known, Chat?" She mumbles, and then I awkwardly put my hands at my sides before answering, deciding I wasn't sure contact was correct right about now.

"A while."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner."

"I was afraid you would hit me." I say, truthfully.

"Yeah, you seemed to make a correct assumption for once in your life." Her words are mean, but she sounds _really_ tired. Like it was a reflex to insult me.

"I didn't think it would be with an umbrella, though." I amend.

She chuckles, and her fringe shakes against the underneath of my jaw. I laugh too.

Suddenly, I realise something. She doesn't know who I am. I know who she is, I've known for a while. But all this time she thought Adrien Agreste, the guy she was assigned to kill, then was forced to go on a double date with, and Chat Noir, her partner in literal crime, weren't the same person.

 _Oh God. I have to tell her, don't I?_

"Ladybug?" I begin, after we both stop laughing. She hasn't moved away yet, though.

"Yeah?"

"I just… I…" I stutter. "I wanted…" I try again. It didn't work.

"You wanted what?" She turns up to me, with immense curiosity.

 _Oh God don't look at me like that._

"You wanted what?" She prods again, after I open my mouth and a slightly strangled sound comes out.

I was trying so hard to tell her who I am. To make her know.

 _How can I make her know?_

"I need to tell you something." I finalise.

"Then tell me." She steps away, but I didn't want that. Or maybe I did?

"I need to tell you but I can't… I can't…?"

 _What am I doing again?_

"Just tell me." She says quietly, and steps closer to me again. I look into her eyes, nervous energy making me move around.

I was finding it harder to admit this when staring directly at her, so I move away swiftly, walking around back and forth.

 _Definitely want her stepping away._

"I just gotta say this one thing, this one little thing." I repeat, mostly to myself, and my hands start moving around bouncily.

"Okay, I'm listening."

 _Why is this so hard?_

I stop moving and grab her waist so we're inches away from each other. "I want you to know who I am."

 _At least it's a start._

Her eyes widen.

"Chat, no." She says, immediately.

My heart sinks. "Why? I know who you are!"

"I…" Now she's the one struggling for words. "I just don't want to."

"That's not enough, My Lady."

"Chat." She warns, and I can sense her rising anger.

"Still not enough."

"Then what would be?" She suddenly explodes, and rips herself away from my hands.

"My Lady–"

"What would be enough, Chat?" She interrupts me, "What would be enough to prove that I'm not ready!"

She's shaking slightly. Shivering? Crying? Not crying. Simmering. Simmering with anger? No. Annoyance? Nuh-uh… _Self-hatred._

"How can you not be ready? I know who you are! What are you afraid of–"

"Myself!" She screams. I jump. "Myself." She repeats, quieter. "I'm afraid I'll hurt you, Chat."

I widen my eyes, and stare blankly at a space next to her head.

"I'm scared I'll hurt you, Chat Noir." She says again, and looks at her feet.

 _She's scared that… she's going to… hurt me?_

She realises I'm silent, and looks over at me.

"Chat…?"

And suddenly, I'm okay with telling her. "Ladybug." I say, and I'm still nervous, but not as much.

She was just as scared as I was. Lifetime partners. What if one of us wasn't right for the other? What if she hated the other me? But she was thinking she would hurt me at the same time I was thinking I wouldn't be good enough for her.

She was just as scared as I was.

"Okay… okay?" I begin. "I'm… I…" I couldn't do this. What if she didn't want it to be me? What if I was the last person she wanted?

 _What do I even say?_

She sighs and rolls her eyes, turning away and taking in a deep breath. She can't see me, and her incredible eyes aren't looking at me.

 _That's easier._

I seize my remaining courage, take a deep breath, and rip the mask of my face.

She doesn't notice, and still has her back to me.

 _Shit._

Then I feel a weight in my pocket. I look down, and a light bulb goes off.

 _Now or never._

I threw it. Her dagger. The one I had been carrying for weeks now, waiting for the right way to give it back to her. It lands right next to her head, embedding into the cement.

Her eyes widen, and she whirls on me.

I had walked over to her, and she gasps at our sudden proximity.

 _When did I walk over here?_

I press her against the cement with my own body, grabbing the knife out of the wall and tossing at behind me.

 _I'm not making my body do that. That isn't me._

She stutters. "Adrien's guard… He had it… But then…?"

Her head was looking me up and down, and with each movement she makes, I match it, my face perfectly in line with hers no matter where she went, as if I needed her to breathe.

 _So close…_

"Yeah. I asked him if he would give it to me." I say, very quietly.

"Oh my God." Her pupils are blown _very_ wide.

"Yeah." I breathe.

Everything about her, her eyes, wide and innocent, her tiny nose, her silky, sweet smelling hair, her light dusting of freckles, it made me want to…

But I don't want to frighten her away.

If she even _spoke_ , her lips would move and I wouldn't be able to stop myself.

"Adrien." She breathes.

 _Oh, to hell with it._

"You're-"

I force our lips together, pulling her into me, and the feeling of her hands on my back is electric. It's hot, and my leather suit is suddenly far too much.

 _I can barely breathe. But I can't stop, either._

What a juxtaposition.

She responds seemingly the same way, but backs away again, "You're-" I follow her and kiss her again, only for her to pull back once more. "But you can't be-"

"Shut up." I plead, and pull her head towards me as our bodies move together.

She was flustered and calm all at once, and I was overwhelmed. I wanted to just… be near her, and it wasn't enough to just be in the same room. I wanted to be with her the whole time.

 _Completely and fully._

She took over the kiss, and we inhaled through our noses impossibly fast. I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her tiny body against me.

This is perfect. She's perfect. We're perfect like this.

"Adrien…" She murmurs between kisses, and I suddenly love the sound of my name. _My actual name._

I lift her up, and whilst kissing she wrapped her legs around my waist. She clings to me, and I walk with her like that in through her doors, and then place her bum gently onto a low dresser, and press her back against the wall.

Her hands wind through my hair, and the pads of her fingertips against my scalp send goose bumps down my neck.

I feel her slide a hand up my stomach, and I in turn slide one up hers.

 _We were stupid enough not to ask each other for identities before. Even as children, we wore masks. Why hadn't we done this earlier?_

She opens her mouth, and I follow. I feel her tongue brush the roof of my mouth. Her lips are soft, and slippery. She makes a tiny sound in the back of her throat, like a whimper.

I, in turn, make one of my own unintentionally. It sounds kind of like a growl. She responds to it well, and tightens her legs around me, knocking something off the dresser. I remove my lips from hers, and bend my neck so my lips are brushing her neck.

She tilts her head upwards and sideways, and her throat bobs as she gulps. Then she whimpers slightly as I suckle on her skin.

 _Jesus…_

She pulls back, to look at me.

"That escalated quickly." She gulps for air.

"Rather." I pant back.

"Adrien Agreste." She says, trying the name.

"Yeah."

"Chat Noir."

"Also me."

She kisses me this time, and after that she lifts her shirt over her head. I didn't care what clothes she was wearing, so the moment her mouth came into view again, I used one hand to cup underneath her thigh and sling it over my waist again, and the other to cup the back of her neck and tilt her face up to me.

She decides she can't breathe anymore, and breaks away, much to my annoyance. I bury my face in the crook of her neck, and brushed my lips against her collarbone as I spoke.

With one hand now resting on either side of her on the dresser, I leaned on them heavily.

"What's wrong?" I pant, opening my eyes. She pushes my head and chest back up so we were looking each other in the eye.

"Adrien Agreste." She breathes. Then she smiles and comes up to kiss my jawline, and then follows it up to my ear, nibbling at it a bit, before trailing down to my neck again, surely leaving some kind of mark.

Her hands ran through my hair, then down my back and up my stomach.

I was left a reckless mess, completely gasping for air, but I responded when she repeated my name after I hadn't heard her the first time. I was a little distracted.

"Adrien."

My real name.

"Yeah?" I respond, playfully. She smirks.

"Adrien Agreste." She smiles so beautifully, and I watch the barrier in her eyes shatter.

 _It's gone. That shield. It's felled. Split. Broken. I was the one that had already seen those eyes countless times, and yet I hadn't recognised them. Or maybe I had._

Her smile fades, at the same time mine does too, making way for absolute, serious sincerity.

"I love you."

"I love you."

She says it at exactly the same time that I do.

Rain had started pouring outside. I hadn't noticed.

When the water blanketed the balcony, the abandoned dagger I had tossed from the wall glinted, reflecting the escaping starlight, and was swept away in the torrent.

And as the blade washed down into the underground, forgotten, it represented so much.

It represented her leaving all that behind.

It represented her choosing _me._

As we fell asleep, tangled in limbs and bedsheets, I realised my life was so much better.

And I let go of the feelings I had been building up inside of me.

Looking at her sleeping face, her dark fringe framing it perfectly in the dim light, I knew she couldn't hear me.

"Goodbye, Master Fu. I can move on now." I say, looking out the window, wrapping one hand over her waist. "Are you proud of me? Are you watching me?" I continue, and follow some raindrops racing down the window.

"Please, take care of my mother. Because…"

I take a deep breath.

"I forgive you."

 **A/N: And, the story is coming to a close.**

 **We needed to put something in there as a kind of 'moving on from Master Fu' part, but there weren't many opportunities for it. So we figured there was the best of them all.**

 **Some fluffy angst-y kind of serious cuteness will come next.**

 **I want to clarify something too: Master Fu was a father to Adrien/Chat, but he was also a father to Marinette/Ladybug. She loved him just that same.**

 **We actually are uploading the next chapter really soon.**

 **Also, Happy New Year!**

 **R.I.P. Carrie Fisher.**

 **She actually wanted this to be the line describing her death: "I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra."**

 **This was because when she first got on the set of Star Wars, George Lucas had told her she wasn't allowed to wear underwear, and when she had asked way (who wouldn't) he had said: "In space, everything expands when it gets to zero gravity. So does your body. So if you wear underwear, it will literally become far too small and suffocate you." She then decided that to be the best way of dying, I guess.**

 **'Til next time~**


	17. Chapter 17- We Can Survive Together

**Chapter 17**

*Marinette POV*

Chat had, soon after, quit at Miraculous too. I had talked to Nate, and he and I wiped both my and Chat's files clean from the world.

" _Like Ladybug and Chat Noir were never even here._ " That's what I had said to him.

We were somewhat the most disgusting couple you can imagine, except whenever one of us was whispering 'sweet nothings' into the others ear, it was actually things like:

"If I had a knife, I could throw it and rebound it off the mirror, and hit that vase that's in the room across the hall. I bet you can't do that."

Or

"If I had my sniper with me, I could angle it just right to hit the hat of that Ben and Jerry's worker off his head. I bet you wouldn't be able to do that with your fancy knives."

So yeah, they weren't _really_ 'sweet nothings'. They just looked like it to other people. _Normal people._

Adrien had decided on the fare as a date. I loved fares. Rephrase: I _had_ loved fares, until after my date with Adrien at this one.

Here's the story.

"The Ferris Wheel?" Adrien asks, looking at me with wide eyes around his fairy floss. "Why the Ferris Wheel?"

"I've _always_ loved Ferris Wheels." I say.

"What? Since when?"

"Since _forever._ "

I had gotten used to seeing Chat like this. Adrien, rather. People often looked at me with jealousy, and I gave them smug responses. I know he's gorgeous. But he's mine.

He was so happy, so carefree. We both had hard times being normal, too, but it was so much easier whenever he as there.

It reminded me that I wasn't alone.

"But the fireworks are starting soon! If we don't go over there, then we'll miss it–"

"We won't!" I assure him.

"Yes we wiiiill." He whines, but allows me to drag him to the non-existent queue outside the Ferris Wheel carriages.

"Two, please!" I say, cheerfully, to the man guarding them.

"You sure? Everyone's down at the fireworks display, kiddo." I nearly punched him at 'kiddo', but I was too happy to care. No-one seemed to know the secret of watching the fireworks here.

"See?" Adrien says, tugging at my sleeve. "Let this guy tell you what to do, he knows!"

"Actually, young man." The guy interrupts. "I was going to commend your girlfriend here on her knowledge. She's the first person in about ten years to know the trick to the best view for the fireworks."

I swell with pride. _He does know._ "Hah!" I say, pointing in Adrien's dumbfounded face.

"You'll see, kid." The guy chuckles at him, and ushers us in hastily.

Adrien is still asking what's going on when we reach the top, and the guy at the bottom gives us a little thumbs-up before stopping us there, at the highest point, and strolling away casually.

 _God, the French love a little romance._

"You'll see." I say to him, and we are sitting on opposite sides of the carriage. We could overlook the whole park, but at the moment it was kind of had to see anything.

It was pretty late at night, after all.

Taking a few sneaky photos of each other (we had a little bet going, where we would get the ugliest photos each of us had of the other and pin it to the wall. It was a cute little competition at first, but then it escalated and the rules changed, so now it's whoever can cover an entire wall with photos of the other person at different places) with our phones, we laughed when the other would catch us.

Then he started smirking, and sat next to me, before cupping the back of my neck and kissing the right side of my throat.

I gasped a little, but then he snickered, and whatever I had felt like doing died away. I elbowed him a little, and he shoved me back a little bit, smiling, until we were basically little kids swatting at each other but with Adrien still trying to kiss me and me giggling non-stop.

The carriage was swaying a little, and because of all the jackets we were wearing, as well as the stuffed huskie plushie I had won taking up the seat, we had barely any room.

I'm awakened from my little fake-kissing-and-giggling-fight when something cracks in the distance.

The fireworks!

From up here, the wind was blowing from behind us, and the fireworks were in front, so the smoke that came off the sparks (even though we couldn't see it) would billow away.

The little sparks then boomed across the sky, filling the air with colourful sprays of gold and red. I forget about the little contest, and so does he, as we both gape at the view. I glance at Adrien, and smile to myself.

My dad and I used to come here and sit atop the Ferris Wheel whenever we wanted to watch the fireworks when I was a kid.

The fireworks pop a few seconds after the lights fill the sky.

But then, the echoing of the fireworks changes, and I can't see the splays of light anymore.

I feel panic rising in my chest, and I start breathing too heavily.

 _That's not fireworks._

Is what my brain tells me.

 _That's gunfire._

Suddenly, I'm crouching low in the carriage, covering my ears, clutching my head with my hands. I can't scream, but then I do, and the sound is drowned by the guns I can hear in the distance.

 _They're aiming at you._

"NO!" I scream, and I hadn't realised but Adrien was panicking too, not because he thought it was guns, but because his girlfriend was having a meltdown.

I couldn't hear him, but I could see his mouth moving to me.

 _They know what you did. You killed people, didn't you?_

The voices continue, but I can't deny them. Adrien keeps mouthing things.

 _Now they're coming for you. They're here to kill you for what you've done._

Stop… No…

 _You're a sinner. You're tainted. "Maybe you don't deserve to live."_

And it's Master Fu saying that.

The voice in my head that used to guide me, used to help me, has turned against me.

I'm screaming, but no-one except Adrien is there to hear me.

He's cupping my face in his hands, thumbs stroking my cheeks. Everything else fades out when he speaks.

"Breathe."

I do, I breathe so deeply I have to take a whole ten seconds to breathe out again. He looks so relieved when my eyes focus on him again, and he wraps his arms around me protectively.

I fold into him, shoving my entire body into the warmth.

"Chat." I whimper, because just now he isn't my boyfriend, he's the boy I learned to fight with. He's the kid I learned to kill with.

"My Lady, it's okay." And he knows I'm not his girlfriend right now. I'm the girl he fell in love with, even when he didn't know it yet.

"I'm sorry."

"No, no, that wasn't your fault." He says, and he does it so assuredly I rub my nose against his chest to get his attention.

"How do you know that?"

"It was a panic attack." He responds simply. "The sound of the fireworks, wasn't it?" I nod. Another one blasts in the distance. "Yeah, that used to happen to me a lot. Not fireworks, though." He doesn't say any more.

"Then what?" I prod.

"Rain on a tin roof."

That's odd.

"Why?"

"My mother died on a rainy day."

 _Oh._

"How did you deal with it?" I ask, because he's so… _normal._

"Not well. I started killing people for a living." He smiles a little, but it's such a terrible smile. Terrible in the sense that it barely looks like a smile, but also in the sense that he's smiling at something so terrible.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"Adrien?" I say, and pull away.

"Yeah, Bugaboo?"

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" I groan, forgetting about what I wanted momentarily.

He laughs. "I'll never stop."

"Fair enough."

"Yes?" He asks.

"Hm?"

"You said my name."

"Oh, right." I pull away, and look into his eyes. "Can I kiss you?"

He responds the moment I say the word 'kiss', and the word 'you', is that last word I form before he's kissing me full-force.

He moves back a little to get air, but I don't let him, and he lets out a muffled little yelp of surprise when I'm pushing him against the back of the carriage, and pushing a hand up underneath his shirt, the other running through his hair.

 _He has a thing with the hair._

After that is over, we sit and watch the splays of light cover the sky.

 _I've waited years for this. I had wanted something, but I hadn't known what it was._

 _This._

 _This is what it was._

"We aren't going to be normal again, are we?"

"No."

Later, I don't remember who said which.

We stay that way, mumbling things to each other like "I'm better at kissing than you" and "I could kick your ass in a sword fight" until the fireworks died away, and the guy at the bottom wolf-whistled for us to get back down.

On the drive home, because Adrien was going to drop me off at my house, he starts talking. "Mari?"

"Yep?"

"Would you let me move in with you?"

I sputter on the snow cone I was eating, even though it was really too cold for it. "S-Sorry?"

He grins sheepishly, glancing at me in the passenger seat, and then glues his eyes back onto the road. "I just thought, you would need someone to help, in case you had another attack, and I just don't want to leave you alone in case you can't deal with it, and I just am getting lonely in my house by myself, but hey if you aren't comfortable enough to do it then that's okay, I just–"

"Adrien." I interrupt his adorable rant, and come to a decision. "Pull over."

"What?"

"Just do it, okay?" I order.

He does, and the moment he tugs on the parking brake I assault him with kisses all over his face, his cheeks, eyebrows, forehead, lips, chin, jaw, cheekbones, _everything._

"Yes you can move in with me." I say, finishing. He's completely red. Even his _ears_.

"Oh my God I've never seen you blush like that."

"Shut up."

"You look so adorable oh my God." I take out my phone and snap about fifteen pictures.

"I don't!" He protests as he starts the car and drives off in the direction of his house.

"Why are we going to your house?" I wonder aloud.

"You mean my old house?"

I laugh. "Yes, your _old_ house."

"Well, I gotta pack my things, don't I?"

I beam at him with amazed curiosity. "You're moving tonight?" I can't avoid the awesome feeling in my gut.

"Might as well."

"WOOHOO!"

"You're such a dork, Marinette."

"You're so cute, Adrien!" He blushes like I'd hoped he would. "Hah! I know your weakness now!"

*Chat POV*

"Weddings are fun." I whisper to my girlfriend, as she sways in my hands. We're dancing on the little floor, a little way away from Alya and Nino, namely, the bride and groom.

"Yes, they are." She whispers back.

Marinette looks stunning, and the black lacy dress Alya had requested her to design hugged her body nicely, the swirling patterns all the way down her arms.

 _She was there. I had wanted Ladybug for so long, and I had been terrified when I thought she had died. Now, she's here. She's with me. She chose me, like I chose her._

"You look so pretty."

"You don't look too bad yourself, hot stuff." She murmurs. "I love you, dork."

"I love you too, shorty."

We had realised after so much time, after saving each other so frequently, after placing all our trust in one another again and again, that what we felt was so extreme the category of 'love' barely fitted it anymore. It was so much more, in so many ways.

It was incredible.

It wasn't perfect.

We had scars. Some would never heal as well as others. Some wouldn't heal no matter what, and some would fade slowly.

But we were _right_.

We could survive.

But only together.

*Alya POV*

"Nino! Where's my hand-held radio?"

"What?" He yells back at me, from the bedroom.

"My hand-held radio! Where is it?"

"How should I know?" He came stumbling down the stairs. "And don't yell so early in the morning!"

"I will do as I please!" I huffed, and crossed my arms over my chest, turning away from him in mock childish pouting. I was just playing.

"Alyaaaaa." Nino moaned, and started walking towards me. He groaned a little when I didn't relent. "Come oonnnnn."

I made a 'hmph' sound.

"Aaaaaah." He groaned, before coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "I'm sorryyy."

"Sorry for what?" I ask, innocently. _This is gold._

"Sorry for trying to control my _wife._ " At that, he smiles and turns me around, before kissing my brow. I giggle, but then before we do anything else my phone goes off.

I check my normal phone.

It wasn't ringing.

I checked my _other_ phone.

"Hello?"

"Lady Wifi, we need you to come in." It was my advisor, Trixx.

"What for?"

"There's been an attempt on a Parisian aristocrat's life, we need you to safeguard him. Tail him all day until he gets home."

"Can it wait?"

"No. And bring your husband, too."

Trixx hung up the phone.

"Gotta go in?" He asked me.

"Yep, you're coming."

"Do I have toooo?"

"It's your job too, you know."

"Ah, fine."

We sprinted to our room upstairs, and grabbed all our gear. Emerging from the doorway, I caught sight of us in one of the floor-to-ceiling mirrors.

Nino with his boomerang (something I tease him about frequently) and me with my shurikens, I smiled.

 _We make one helluva team._

*Narrators POV*

Miraculous had had a makeover.

What with both of their best assassins, as well as their leader, gone, the association decided a new pathway would be better.

Some of the assassins who were better at computers got jobs as hackers in major companies and police forces, but others like Nino and Alya became kind of consultant body guards, except they never even made contact with the person they were guarding.

Like said earlier, some of them got a taste of the bloodlust, and were hooked on it. Others, like the newlyweds, were part of the 'disgusted' category.

Another thing. Couples were now allowed to be partners. A bad history of trickery, deceit, lies, misunderstandings and hatred had made them learn their lesson.

Sometimes, people were stronger together.

The new Miraculous wasn't about hurting. It was about helping from the shadows. Assisting when no-one can see them

You could say they used to be demons.

Now they're guardian angels.

As both Alya and Nino set out for their new assignment, Marinette and Adrien played ridiculous games in their apartment.

One couple powered through what was about to happen to them.

The other overcame the trauma that was brought with the burden of being in the ill hands of Fate for far too long.

They're both happy endings, wouldn't you say?

 **A/N: Goodbye, everyone! Thank you for the support and comments! We're sorry if you didn't like the ending, but we honestly thought that was the best way.**

 **We needed to say something here: We thought about the relationship Master Fu had with Ladybug and Chat Noir, and realised they probably hated him as much as they loved him. After all, he had chosen them to start assassination, not the other way around. It would have been extremely complicated, and it would be almost impossible to fathom. Kind of like how an enemy regards and enemy. After a while, and after repeated violent and clashing encounters, it becomes less about what they're fighting for and more about fighting each other for the sake of it. It means that nemeses probably understand each other better than best friends would, in a deeper way, and we think that's almost what those two felt towards Fu.**

 **Well. This is the last chapter. We may write something else in the future, spread the word of our story, too! We loved writing this, so share it with other people too!**

 **Goodbye, then~**


	18. Thank You

_Paris looks so different from up here._ He thinks, as he floats, casting his eyes across the landscape below.

He watches as people he'd never met, going to places he'd never been, started doing things he'd never done.

 _Too late, now._ He smiles, sadly.

 _"Fu, did you save me a seat?"_ A voice comes from behind.

 _"Hawk."_ Fu starts, and turns to him.

 _"Fu."_ He regards. Fu looks at the face of the man who used to be his best friend. Or maybe he still was.

 _"I know you can't forgive me."_ Hawk starts, but Fu then puts up a hand to stop him.

 _"We're finished, Hawk. No, Gabriel. It won't make a difference if I forgive you or not."_

 _"But, everything I did, I..."_

 _"It's okay. I'm stuck with you for eternity, I'm going to have to get used to you."_

And Hawk, smiles, and so does Fu. For a moment, it's perfect.

 _"But seriously, did you save me a spot?"_ Hawk says, glancing around. There were entities everywhere, both all over and not there at all. They all either sat, stood, crouched. Alone, waiting, not in isolation, but simply in peace. They would be reunited soon.

Or they in groups, laughing with each other.

Some stood right at the entrance, with open arms to new people coming through, or waiting for a particular person to join them.

Each one of them looked as they had been when they were at their happiest during life. Some were young, some were old.

Fu laughed, but that sound was cut off when a feminine voice interjected.

 _"Nah, I saved you guys the best seats in the house."_ Both men whirl on the woman floating before them, wrapped in ethereal white cloth, her bare feet brushing the clouds.

She smiled, her eyes full of familiarity. _"Haven't seen you two in far too long."_

She holds her arms out, and Fu and Hawkmoth look at each other, before shrugging. They enveloped her tiny body into their tight hugs, and the three of the wrapped their arms around each other protectively. _"God, I can't breathe."_ She complained, but she had started crying.

 _"You don't need to breathe."_ Hawk responded, and his eyes started welling up, too.

 _"You're both such sobs."_ Fu said, tears streaming down his face, before slipping through the clouds below.

Underneath them, a light sprinkle started. The people on the streets took shelter under awnings, and sleeping babies woke up to the sound of rain on their rooves.

 _"I've missed you, so much, Pea."_

 _"I know."_

 _"Me too, you know."_

 _"I've missed you both, as well."_ She sobs. _"I watched you, down there. Sometimes, I wondered when you were ever going to join me up here."_

 _"Hah, all too soon."_ Fu teases. She punches him in the shoulder, before stepping back, wiping tears off her face.

 _"We have a job to do, you know."_ She smiles.

 _"What is it?"_ Hawk wonders.

 _"Our son."_ She says, to the both of them. _"He found happiness. We are going to try and keep it that way until he joins us up here, okay?"_

They look at each other, and then they look down. _"We're going to watch over him. The three of us."_

 _"Okay."_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Good."_

The three of them stood, shoulder to shoulder, as their son was dancing beneath them in the middle of a square, getting drenched in rain and spinning a girl with dark ponytails around with him. Probably against her will.

Then, the boy looked up, frowning, as if he felt something. Then he smiled.

 _Thank you._ He mouthed to the wind.


End file.
